A familiar logo on your phone could lead to serious consequences

Finnish police warn: A familiar logo on your phone could lead to serious consequences Source: Ilta-Sanomat (Digitoday) www.is.fi/digitoday… Finnish police are warning the public about a fraud campaign in which criminals place WhatsApp voice calls while impersonating banks. The calls display the name and logo of a Finnish bank on the recipient’s phone, creating a false sense of legitimacy. According to Detective Chief Inspector Juha Leinonen of the Eastern Finland Police, fraudsters have been contacting residents in eastern Finland using WhatsApp voice calls that appear to originate from Finnish banks. The bank logo and name shown on the phone screen have led some victims to believe the calls were genuine. Police emphasize that banks do not contact customers via WhatsApp and never request online banking credentials over the phone. Banks also do not ask customers, by phone or message, to transfer funds to another account. In December, police in Eastern Finland recorded 316 cases of fraud or payment instrument fraud. Twelve of these cases were classified as aggravated offences. Leinonen noted that police receive reports of fraud on a daily basis. Most cases continue to involve online marketplace scams, where non-existent goods are advertised and sold on digital trading platforms. In aggravated cases, financial losses typically reach tens of thousands of euros, with the largest losses now extending into six-figure amounts.