The police warned of fake police scams committed by making video calls through Google Meet, said police in a press release on Wednesday.
Earlier in June police issued the warning, and the scam calls have recently been made using the faces of known police officers, including National Police Commissioner Ilkka Koskimäki.
The scammers were found to use deepfake technology in some calls and the faces of known police officers continue to be used on the Google Meet video conferencing application.
During scam video calls, the scammer tries to make the victim give their payment or identification information to the scammer.
In some cases, the victim has given their banking credentials to the fraudster.
According to information available so far, the scams are committed against foreign people living in Finland, in particular.
They have been threatened with various law enforcement actions during the video calls.
Fraudsters typically try to create a sense of urgency and make the victim panic. With scam blocking tools increasing, criminals resort to social manipulation more and more often.
They appeal to the victim’s emotions in the most harmful types of cyber-enabled fraud, including phishing, investment and romance scams, and document and CEO fraud.
In 2025, the police recorded a total of 88 million euros of damage caused by said fraud.
In Finland, the police do not make video calls to people, said police.
Police advised the people to block unknown contacts on Google Meet by adjusting the settings to allow calls from their own contacts only.
The police, banks or any other legal actors never ask for people’s banking or identification information over the phone or video.
The police urge people to exercise caution whenever an outsider asks for such information.
- Scam calls
- In guise of police
- Finland
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
