Lithuania phone scams cost over €1.2 million in July, recent victims lose €74,300
A survey commissioned by Urbo Bank and carried out by Spinter Research found that despite a surge in data‑leak reports, 27 % of Lithuanian residents did not adopt additional security measures. The same research indicated that 73 % of fraud attempts in the country were carried out by phone, and that roughly €1.26 million was stolen from citizens between 1 – 26 July 2024.
Police reports detailed three separate telephone‑scam cases in Kaišiadorys, Jonava and Vilnius. In Kaišiadorys a 78‑year‑old woman was deceived by a caller claiming to be a police officer and lost €4.5 k. In Jonava a woman handed over a bank card to an impostor and subsequently lost €23 k. In Vilnius a man was tricked by callers posing as Google, bank staff and police, resulting in a €23.86 k loss and an additional €15 k loan taken under false pretences. The three incidents total €74.3 k in losses. A separate anecdote described a Lithuanian woman who received a Viber call from a man claiming to work for Revolut; the conversation turned flirtatious before the scammer attempted to obtain personal data. Police have opened criminal investigations into all cases, noting that scammers frequently use apps such as Viber, WhatsApp and Telegram and foreign‑origin phone numbers while impersonating banks, police or tech companies.
Entities: Irmantas Jasevičius · Lithuanian Police Department · Lithuanian citizens · Revolut · Spinter Research · Urbo Bank · Viber
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [● 2 SOURCES] A woman in Kaišiadorys lost €4,500 after a caller pretending to be a police officer swindled her. (Police Department report)
- [● 2 SOURCES] A resident of Jonava lost €23,000 after a scammer, posing as a police officer, obtained her bank card. (Police Department report)
- [● 2 SOURCES] The three phone‑scam incidents reported by police resulted in a combined loss of €74,300. (Aggregated police reports)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] 73 % of fraud attempts in Lithuania involved phone calls. (survey by Urbo Bank/Spinter Research)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] A Lithuanian woman received a Viber call from a man claiming to be a Revolut employee; the conversation turned flirtatious before the scammer attempted to obtain personal data. (Delfi interview)
- [● 2 SOURCES] A man in Vilnius lost €23,860 after scammers pretended to be Google and police, plus an additional €15,000 loan taken under false pretences. (Police Department report)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Approximately €1.26 million was stolen from Lithuanian citizens by phone scams between 1 – 26 July 2024. (survey by Urbo Bank/Spinter Research)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] 27 % of Lithuanian residents did not change security habits after data‑leak incidents. (survey by Urbo Bank/Spinter Research)