Beware of identity fraud

You can affect general attitudes with your own example. With the help of the information on this website, companies and individuals can more easily recognise what the shadow economy is and identify economic crimes. This website contains tips and examples of how you can act to protect yourself and the society against the harms caused by the shadow economy and economic crime.

Beware of
identity fraud
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Identity fraud – i.e. the unlawful use of another person’s name or personal data – was criminalised in September 2015. Identity thefts are typically related to frauds in which the personal data of another person is used to purchase products, to take out a loan or to establish customer or bank accounts.

Private individuals

  • Protect your personal data, particularly your personal identity code and online banking codes. The authorities or banks will never ask you to provide your password or username by e-mail or text message, and the same goes for trustworthy online services and social media platforms.
  • Adopt a mindset of healthy scepticism regarding offers you see online or receive by phone. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.
  • If you suspect a crime, contact the authorities. The faster the response to identity fraud is, the smaller the scope of the fraud is likely to be.

Businesses

  • Identify risks and be proactive. It is essential to take effective proactive measures to prevent damaging situations and financial losses. This means identifying risks and implementing the necessary protective measures. Check regularly whether your company’s details in various information systems (such as the Trade Register) are accurate and unchanged.
  • Use training and communication to increase awareness among your personnel. Training and communication to emphasise that malicious information gathering is a common threat are important for increasing security awareness among personnel and make successful phishing attacks less likely.
  • Be prepared for the worst-case scenario where damage has already been incurred. This means being prepared for quickly investigating situations, minimising damage, rapid recovery and careful communication planning.
Prevent
VAT fraud
You may unintentionally participate in fraudulent trading, where someone in the trading chain attempts to avoid value added tax. Companies are always obliged to check whether their business partners can be trusted.
Prevent
undeclared work
Undeclared work is an international phenomenon In the most serious cases, the use of undeclared workers may involve extortionate work discrimination, forced labour and trafficking in human beings when the work is carried out in unlawful conditions.
Report
virtual currencies
While the use of virtual currencies in itself is not a crime, they do not have an official status parallel to that of money. The appreciation of a virtual currency is realised when it is sold or used and, under such circumstances, the appreciation is subject to capital taxation.
Combat
corruption
Corruption is the misuse of authority for personal benefit. Corruption has serious consequences for society as well as at the individual level because it slows down economic development, increases economic inequality and environmental destruction and weakens democracy.
Recognise
consumer product fraud
Typical irregularities relating to products sold to consumers, or trade in consumer products, include the misuse of country-of-origin labelling, fraud related to alcohol, tobacco and car imports and the so-called subscription traps associated with distance selling.
Read
more
On this page, we have put together a list of links for more reading. For more detailed guidelines, visit, among other things, the websites of the authorities.