Finland: Scam call and payment fraud prevention

The intervention is based on the principles of situational crime prevention, aiming to reduce opportunities for crime through technological measures before offences occur. It proved to be an excellent and effective example of applying crime prevention theory and situational analysis to solve a real-world problem. Falsifying the caller’s telephone number to make it appear Finnish was previously a common tactic used by foreign criminals. This method, known as number spoofing, aimed to convince Finnish victims that the call was legitimate, prompting them to answer and potentially disclose online banking credentials or grant remote access to their computers. The issue has since been resolved in Finland through a nationally coordinated solution based on an innovation developed by Elisa. Led by Traficom, Finnish telecom operators collaborated to implement a nation-wide measure, formalized by a regulatory directive effective from October 2023. This intervention effectively prevents scam calls from appearing as Finnish numbers, significantly reducing fraud risk. According to the National Bureau of Investigation, crime reports have dropped sharply.

The ECPA jury delivered a unanimously positive assessment of Finland’s “Scam call and payment fraud prevention” programme. They praised it as a highly innovative example of situational crime prevention, offering a technical solution that stops caller-ID spoofing at the network level. By intercepting fraudulent calls before they reach potential victims, the programme removes the need for individuals to change their behaviour—an aspect the jury highlighted as a major advantage, particularly for protecting vulnerable groups. The initiative was also commended for its strong collaborative foundation, involving the national regulator and all major telecom operators. The jury found the description of the stakeholder engagement process clear and convincing, showing how coordinated action enabled successful implementation. The programme presents evidence of demonstrated results further strengthened the jury’s appraisal. It has a solid theoretical grounding, the quality of information provided is high, and the positive outcome evaluation indicates reductions in fraud attempts and associated harm. Finally, the jury considered the programme transferable, while recognising that adoption in other countries would depend on the specific regulatory environment. Overall, they viewed it as a powerful and forward-looking response to spoofed-call fraud.