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CRIME

Danish police issue warning over iPhone SMS scam

Denmark’s National Police has issued a statement warning the public against a scam in which targets are offered the chance to buy an iPhone 13 far under the market price.

Published: 7 September 2022 16:34 CEST
Apple iPhone 13
File photo of an iPhone 13. Apple is announcing a big investment in its Munich site to be less reliant on Asian production. Photo: Mike Segar/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

The scam, propagated on Facebook and by SMS, invites the recipient to click on a link, claiming it will lead them to a website where they can purchase the new iPhone for under 3,000 kroner.

Police said they had been alerted to the scam by members of the public.

The iPhone 13 pro currently retails in Denmark for around 8,000 kroner.

The false text message claims it can be acquired for “2,999 kroner – was 9,389 kroner” by clicking on a link. It also says that “only 100” of the iPhones are available.

“We are currently receiving reports of fake SMS’s and adverts on Facebook, using the bait that you can buy a new Iphone 13 pro very cheaply,” police said in a Twitter post.

“If you click on the link, you will be sent to a scam website which tries to trick people into handing over their money and information”, police state.

Earlier this year, Denmark criminalised social media impersonation of others by making it against the law to create a social media profile which looks like it belongs to another person.

Cases of telephone scams targeting elderly people meanwhile occur relatively frequently in Denmark.

One such scam was in June reported to have cost five elderly people almost a million kroner between them.

READ ALSO: Danish NemID scam victims can apply for compensation

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CRIME

‘More Danes than ever’ victims of digital crime

Almost 190,000 people in Denmark were the victims of IT-related crime in 2023, according to new figures.

Published: 14 June 2024 17:15 CEST
'More Danes than ever' victims of digital crime

The number, released by the Danish Crime Prevention Council (Det Kriminalpræventive Råd) represents a significant increase on the previous year’s figure of 150,000.

Denmark’s justice ministry, national police and the University of Copenhagen all work with the Crime Prevention Council in an annual study which tracks the figure through contact with victims.

It represents a trend which is unlikely to slow down in coming years, according to the Council’s director Erik Christensen.

“Technological advances mean that there are more and more doors through which the criminals can walk in relation to scamming us normal members of the public,” he told newswire Ritzau.

The emergence of AI could make it even more likely that people become subjected to digital fraud attempts, he said.

The study found that online payments and abuse of payment information were most common types of fraud defined as IT-related.

But “contact fraud”, in which scammers contact targets by email, telephone or online, is also on the rise.

The figure for that specific type of crime went from 13,000 in 2022 to 47,000 last year.

READ ALSO: Danish courts issue warning over SMS scam

“Our best advice is that if each of us takes good time when we get an email or SMS… and check whether it is [actually] from the Tax Agency, municipality or bank,” Christensen said.

He also advised asking a family member or trusted person for a second opinion before answering any email or SMS, if in doubt.

In the most common type of IT crime – online transactions – some 85,000 people in Denmark last year lost money to scams such as fake web shops or trades with private individuals.

Another form – which hit 64,000 people – involves purchase of a fake or counterfeit item.

Some 76,000 people were victims of having their bank card details stolen and misused, some 19,000 more than in 2022.

“We must move away from shaming people who get scammed because anyone can fall victim to it. Even when you look at these numbers, we know there are also unreported cases,” Christensen said.

The Council director stressed the importance of victims of online fraud not feeling shame over what had happened.

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