In the first six months of this year, clients of Latvia's four largest banks were defrauded for a total of 9.452 million euros, which is 86.2% more than in the same period last year, according to data from the Financial Industry Association. In total, in the first six months of 2024 there were 4,795 cases of fraud were identified, which is 45% more than in the first half of 2023. At the same time, in the first six months of this year, 8,375 cases of fraud were prevented, totaling €6.415 million. In the first half of 2024, 2,733 cases of telephone fraud were detected, amounting to €5,696,991. There were also 1,602 cases of investment fraud amounting to €2,722,238 and 460 cases of other types of fraud amounting to €1,032,615. Compared to the first six months of 2023, the number of phone scams this year has increased by 2.4 times, and the amount of fraud over the same period has increased by 3.3 times. At the same time, the number of investment fraud cases in the first half of 2024 decreased by 3.3%, and the amount of fraud increased by 5.3%. Other types of fraud decreased by 9.3%, and the amount of fraud increased by 37.7%. In the first six months of 2024, 2,690 telephone fraud attempts worth €2,251,407, 5,047 investment fraud attempts worth €3,220,066 and 638 other fraud attempts worth €943,887 were thwarted. It has already been reported that last year, clients of the four largest banks, having confirmed payments themselves, were defrauded of 12.662 million euros, which is 5.2% more than in 2022. There were 7,795 incidents of fraud in 2023, an increase of 45.6% from 2022. In 2023, 13,537 cases of fraud were prevented, totaling €9.218 million.
