NORWAY Increase in Fraud YoY

Scam Threats Continue to Challenge Norway

Over the last two years, Norway has arguably experienced more targeted scam attacks than its neighbours within the study, resulting in the country posting the largest increase in card fraud in 2020. In 2021 Norway significantly improved its performance, posting an increase of only €0.1M in relative value, which contrasts significantly with the €8.1M increase from the Netherlands.

However, unlike the Netherlands, CNP fraud remains the contributing factor to overall losses in Norway. Basis points of fraud increased by 225% in 2021, and Norway continues to suffer greater levels of phishing, smishing and vishing attacks than its peers, the latter now becoming the primary vehicle for targeted social engineering attempts on the Norwegian population. In January 2022, telecommunications firm Telia blocked more than 4 million fraudulent calls in Norway - nearly twice as many as in neighbouring countries Denmark and Sweden. Latest scams to emerge in Norway include “Wangiri” (“one ring and cut” in Japanese) – where scammers aim to get customers to call back and incur high fees, and other mass vishing attacks where fraudsters use foreign numbers to attempt calls and collect personal information from Norwegians’ ID cards.

In the age of digital adoption and advanced fraud management, the Nordics leads by example. Many strengths are shared across the region, yet the constituent countries remain highly individual where fraud modus operandi and trends are concerned. Norway has experienced distinctly different challenges to both Denmark and Sweden, proving that our approach to fraud management in this digital age must be both agile and dynamic, whilst drawing upon the shared intelligence that we glean from our consortium partners across the globe.