Sweden faces surge in Swish and police impersonation scams

Sweden is facing a rise in sophisticated fraud schemes involving impersonation of trusted services and authorities. Swish has issued a warning regarding scammers calling from foreign numbers, such as those starting with +47, claiming to represent the payment service. These callers often use social manipulation, such as alleging a pending 5,000 SEK Bitcoin order, to trick users into revealing sensitive information or using BankID to grant access to their bank accounts.

Simultaneously, the Swedish Police have warned of a trend in Western Sweden where criminals impersonate police officers. These scams often begin with an SMS regarding home maintenance or security, followed by a call from a fake officer offering to protect valuables like jewelry and cash from perceived threats. In one instance in Lysekil, a victim lost significant amounts of jewelry and cash to this method.

The scale of these crimes is significant, with criminal networks reportedly gaining approximately one million SEK daily from bank fraud. Critics argue that the current system places a disproportionate burden on customers, who bear roughly 300–400 million SEK in annual losses, while banks cover only about 10 percent. There are growing calls for the government to legislate that banks bear a larger share of these fraudulent losses.