Have you been called by the bank or the police and told to transfer your savings to a “safe account”?
Perhaps you have clicked on a link in your inbox or let yourself be tempted by an “investment opportunity” that gives a high return? Have you been asked to send some money to a friend or family member who has fallen into a financial bind?
Then you yourself have to pay for being deceived, and that bill costs you dearly.
In line with increasing digitization of banking and payment solutions, a door has opened for extensive financial crime.
The door has a “welcome in” sign hanging on the outside for fraudsters who want to exploit trust-based solutions and feed off the money of individuals who let themselves be fooled.
In practice, these cases often work like this: The fraudster tricks the victim into transferring money, or takes out loans or other debt obligations in her name through the use of BankID. When she then discovers that she has been defrauded and notifies the bank, the bank nevertheless continues to demand payment from the fraud victim.
Although the banks have earned enormous sums from increased efficiency of their services, neither the authorities nor the banks are interested in providing legal certainty for those who have been defrauded.
There is not necessarily any help in the police taking the case in for investigation. If the case is dismissed on the basis of capacity, the banks use this as a pretext to continue collecting the claim from the fraud victim.
They do this, even though the evidence threshold in criminal cases is far higher than the civil law evidence threshold – which the banks must comply with.
As it stands today, fraud is not included in the scheme of free legal aid – despite the fact that fraud causes major and often life-long problems for the victims.
Although the banks have earned enormous sums from increased efficiency of their services, neither the authorities nor the banks are interested in providing legal certainty for those who have been defrauded.
The banks’ plaster on the wound is to send out general info-mails to customers and ask them to be less naive.
The result is that the costs are borne solely by the fraud victims themselves, in the form of attachment requests, forced sales and life-destroying debt obligations. The banks’ plaster on the wound is to send out general info-mails to customers and ask them to be less naive.
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The new one the Financial Agreements Act which entered into force in 2023, was intended to ensure stronger protection for consumers in their dealings with the bank. The banks are given increased responsibility and are subject to various duties so that fraud is avoided to a greater extent.
The new law is a step in the right direction, but the road to the goal is still long. The Act contains complicated legislation that raises difficult legal issues.
Without the help of a lawyer, it will be difficult for most people to know what rights they have, or how to counter the unjust demands that the creditor is persistently trying to collect.
We who work as volunteer students in Legal Counseling for Women (JURK) see in several cases that the fraud is perpetrated by close relatives. Not infrequently, it is part of an extensive and complex picture of violence.
This agrees with the findings made in The SODI report on misuse of e-ID from 2022. There is no doubt that the victims have an enormous need for legal assistance.
The debt they incur is often several hundreds of thousands of kroner, and the victims are caught in an eternal spiral of debt that has enormous consequences for life and health.
It is paradoxical that the victims are directed to pay for a lawyer out of their own pocket, when it is in the nature of the case that the clients no longer have any money to pay with.
So what do you actually do when you stand there with debt up to your ears, no real opportunity to pay for the crime you have been exposed to, and late payment interest that almost doubles the principal?
Although digitalization minister Karianne Tung (Ap) recently reported on Dagsnytt 18 that “no fraud victim should be left alone”, that is exactly what they do – as long as fraud cases are not covered by the free legal aid scheme.
It is paradoxical that the victims are directed to pay for a lawyer out of their own pocket, when it is in the nature of the case that the clients no longer have any money to pay with.
JURK believes that it cannot be up to voluntary students to ensure that the banks comply with the rules to which they are subject under the Financial Agreements Act.
The victims of fraud need better legal protection than that!
NOK 9.7 billion. That is the total sum lost by residents of the Nordic countries as a result of digital fraud in 2023and it is assumed that the dark figures are large.
When Økokrim presented the new Nordic threat assessment on digital fraud, it became clear that fraud has become a huge societal problem.
Until now, the banks have succeeded in passing almost all the risk of fraud onto the individual consumer, and consumers have little to say.
Until the government realizes the enormous need that victims of fraud have for legal assistance, we hope the victims contact JURK and Jussbuss for advice and guidance in the fight against the fraudsters.
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