Response to interpellation 2024/25:26 on measures against elderly fraud
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M argues that fraud is a lucrative activity for organized crime 1 and that the government is determined to counter this 1. M proposes that funds be allocated for a financial intelligence center 1, emphasizes the importance of secret wiretapping for preventive purposes and robust banking systems 2, as well as that employers need better opportunities for background checks 3. M believes that one has a moral obligation to push back crime 4 and that one must choke the criminal economy 4. SD argues that fraud targets a vulnerable group 5, wants to tighten the sentencing scale 5 and considers it a problem that companies can hire wanted persons 6. SD considers that the parliamentary majority takes the issues seriously 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Mr. Speaker! Pontus Andersson Garpvall has asked me what measures the government and I intend to take during the mandate period to combat fraud against the elderly.
Fraud crime is a lucrative activity for organized crime because it generates large profits and involves a low risk of detection and prosecution. The Government is determined to counter the criminals' opportunities to enrich themselves in this way.
To ensure that the banking sector increases the protection of customers' money, I and several of my ministerial colleagues have, during the winter and spring, held meetings with the heads of some of Sweden's largest banks. The banks have presented a package of measures which, among other things, involves developing transaction monitoring and giving customers the opportunity to introduce time delays, amount limits, and extra controls for certain payments. The Government is, of course, following the developments in this area. Pleasantly enough, we have seen a clear decline in the proceeds from phone scams during the first seven months of this year compared to the corresponding period last year.
Swedish legislation, which of course implements EU directives also in this area, sets requirements that banks shall counter fraud in their operations. Within the EU, negotiations are currently underway regarding new rules in the area. In comparison with other EU countries, Sweden is more digitized, and the occurrence of fraud via social manipulation has increased sharply in recent years. Sweden has therefore had an active role in the EU negotiations, and we are pushing for the new regulatory framework to have a design that increases the possibilities to combat fraud.
In the budget bill for 2025, the government also proposes that funds be allocated for a financial intelligence center at the Swedish Police Authority. The Swedish Police Authority, the Swedish Economic Crime Authority, and the Swedish Tax Agency shall cooperate closely there with, among others, banks to effectively exchange operational information and work together on crime prevention.
Other measures that can be mentioned are that the government has appointed an inquiry into reinforced protection for personal data in the area of freedom of the press and freedom of expression. Furthermore, the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority has been tasked with countering so-called spoofing, so that fraudsters cannot use manipulated telephone numbers to mislead intended fraud victims.
The Government Offices are also preparing proposals to strengthen the criminal law protection for the elderly and others who are particularly vulnerable in the area of fraud. According to the proposal, those who take advantage of the fact that the victim is unprotected or vulnerable, or who commit a fraud in an organized form, shall more often be able to be sentenced for a serious crime.
At the same time, we must be aware that as the government and other parts of society implement measure after measure to counter fraud, the criminals change their methods. The government continues to analyze the need for stricter laws and other measures, all with the aim of increasing safety in society. It is also important that we as customers and citizens keep ourselves informed and vigilant in order to avoid being exposed to crime as far as possible.
Pontus Andersson Garpvall (SD)
Mr. Speaker! I thank Gunnar Strömmer for the answer.
Fraud has become an increasingly larger source of income for gang criminals. In February, we in SVT's Uppdrag granskning could follow how criminal individuals from Sweden committed fraud crimes against, among others, elderly people in Sweden via telephone. Everything took place from an apartment in Spain.
The methods used to deceive the elderly and others out of their money can vary, but what the crimes have in common is that they target a vulnerable group in society with high trust in society and its authorities and institutions.
In recent weeks, we have been able to follow the reporting on how the Social Democrats, through their gaming company Kombispel, have made use of a call center company in Spain. Employees at the company, which had had criminal and even wanted persons in high-ranking positions, have spoken out about how they were urged to target elderly people and pressure them to buy lottery tickets via direct debit. The party has also enabled the call center company to access its membership register, which has meant that the personal data of tens of thousands of Swedes ended up in the hands of criminals.
Fraud in general and elderly fraud in particular are outrageous, not least because they target a vulnerable group in society – a group with strong trust in Swedish society, our authorities, and perhaps also the country's political parties.
In the Tidö Agreement, we are in agreement that the penalties for crimes that are common in the gang criminal environment should be tightened. Already now, we have, for example, introduced double penalties for aggravated weapons offenses. But fraud is also mentioned as a crime where the penalty scale should be tightened, and these increased penalties can have a deterrent effect.
The Minister mentions a number of measures in this area, but is there any single measure that the Minister sees as the most important or more important for combating fraud crimes but also ensures that more of these crimes are solved?
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Mr. Speaker! Thanks to Pontus Andersson Garpvall for the opportunity to discuss these important issues today!
Yes, it is quite true that a long series of media reviews, not least during the past year, have exposed the cynicism and the large-scale nature behind many of the elderly frauds that all too many citizens in our country are affected by.
I myself had the opportunity to see the review conducted by Uppdrag granskning in advance and also the opportunity to comment on it in the relevant program. I must say that I was struck, not least by the brutality and cynicism that characterized the conversations, which were recorded and could be played back.
It is clear that the legislation we are rolling out strikes against the gross violence and the shootings and explosions, which are the most brutal expressions of organized crime. But it also, to a large extent, aims to stifle the criminal economy and, in that respect, to break the recruitment into the gangs when it concerns children and young people. To stifle the criminal economy is justified because it drives the violence and the recruitment, but also because the crime victims are generally very vulnerable and defenseless in this area – this regardless of whether it concerns drug sales or, as in the case we are now discussing, frauds targeting very vulnerable elderly people.
Regarding the issue that Pontus Andersson Garpvall mentions specifically in his interpellation and also takes up here in the chamber concerning what has emerged recently about the Social Democrats' lotteries, it is clear that everyone understands that very serious and incriminating information has come to light. The methods, the way in which elderly and vulnerable people have been called, remind to a not insignificant extent of the calls that we have seen in other and even more clandestine contexts. Likewise, any connections to the gang criminal environment and the companies that have managed this sale are naturally incriminating.
I know that these questions have been debated in a specific order in the chamber today. They are also subjects of a specific discussion regarding the regulation of that type of activity, and that too can be handled in a specific order.
Regarding the broader issue, the criminal activity occurring in organized form directed against the elderly and extensive frauds that bring in billions to the criminal networks, I have accounted for the collective program from the government's side. I am fully aware that much more will need to be done.
Pontus Andersson Garpvall asks me if there are any specific measures I would like to highlight as particularly important. I would say that it is the totality that produces the intended effect. But if I am still to highlight a couple, I would say that the first is that we have made it possible to use secret coercive measures, i.e., secret wiretapping, also for a preventive purpose to prevent and preclude also this type of fraud. One should, therefore, be able to direct wiretapping against the criminal networks for a preventive and precautionary purpose. That leads me to the second question, the one about the contacts with the banks. We know that once the money has left the account, it is practically impossible to get hold of.
Both by attempting to prevent these crimes from occurring at all through secret coercive measures and other interventions, and by having banks build more robust systems to reduce the vulnerability of the elderly, we can build a much stronger preventive protection for vulnerable groups, not least the elderly. I would say that this would have an extraordinarily great significance when it comes to preventing crime and thereby protecting potential crime victims.
Pontus Andersson Garpvall (SD)
Mr. Speaker! We can observe that in addition to the typical gang criminal sources of income, something that has become increasingly widespread in recent years is fraud against individuals but also against authorities and companies. My view is that it may be that part of the crime that will be difficult to tackle - not only the mafia-like methods used against companies and private individuals but also the crime that has eaten further and further into the body of society.
I want to return to the question that was discussed in the chamber earlier today and which has been discussed frequently in recent weeks, as it concerns crimes, or not crimes but trickery and influence, against elderly people that cause elderly people to end up in distress.
To start the discussion on the lottery operations, Dagens Nyheter reported in September that the Socialdemokraterna managed their lottery sales from a call center in Barcelona.
Former employees there have testified about how they target elderly and confused people. They use invented campaigns and hide that it involves subscriptions in order to increase sales figures in this way. The trick they use is called "click or sell," which means they do not end the call until they have sold or the person called hangs up. The script has been approved by the party, which has previously received harsh criticism for having sold lottery tickets on credit and driven people to the Enforcement Authority.
That it is even possible to sell this type of lottery subscription via telephone depends on a law from 2018, which exempts written agreements in telephone sales. It is just one of many exceptions that exist in the law.
It also emerged later that this company had employed a number of criminals and that one was even wanted.
The fact that the party has reported its membership register to this company, even though the Data Inspectorate already advised against doing this in 2012, makes the whole thing worse.
That the activities of gang criminals have become increasingly international is a problem that requires international cooperation. The mobility between Sweden and countries such as Spain and Turkey means that Swedish citizens can continue their criminal activities from abroad and in this way evade justice in Sweden. That it is still possible for companies to employ wanted persons, as in this case, does not make the problems any easier to solve.
Perhaps there should actually be a specific responsibility for companies to ensure through background checks that their employees are not wanted, in the same way as for people who do not have the right to stay in Sweden. Does the Minister believe that there should be some form of prohibition against hiring certain persons who are wanted or on the run?
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Mr. Speaker! Let me first just say something about the reality that Pontus Andersson Garpvall highlights regarding the localization of this type of criminal activity. It is quite true that call centers and other things are often organized and set up outside the country's borders. Telemarketing stations for fraud are often set up at warmer addresses far away from Sweden. To address this, a much more effective cooperation is needed between Sweden and the countries where this crime has its base – a political cooperation but also to a very high degree a cooperation between authorities.
I can mention that the Police Authority and the Prosecution Authority are working very actively, for example, by appointing special liaison officers to achieve effective cooperation with police authorities and prosecution authorities in other countries. This provides a collective systemic force against this type of base for criminal activity that targets Sweden. People should not get away just because they have set up the base for their criminal activities outside the country's borders.
The second concrete point that Pontus Andersson Garpvall mentions is the question of the employer's responsibility regarding whom they hire and whether there should be a specific responsibility to avoid hiring persons who are wanted for crimes. I know that the Sweden Democrats have raised this question in the Committee on Justice.
I cannot say that I have a straight answer when it comes to exactly how one could handle such a question legislatively. But what I can say is that employers today must be very aware that vulnerabilities in recruitment can come with very high costs. Not least when it concerns the public sector, we now have discussions and investigations underway on how we can expand the possibility of performing effective background checks. This reflects a very cynical reality where criminal networks exploit vulnerabilities to get into authorities, municipal operations, and for that part also commercial operations which, for various reasons, they consider to have strategic importance for them.
If this is to be not only an opportunity but also associated with obligations in some respects or for certain activities, that is nothing that I have a very clear understanding of today. I can only state that the problem that Pontus Andersson Garpvall raises is a reality and that in any case we must ensure that employers in the future have better opportunities than today to carry out effective background checks on persons whom they intend to employ.
Pontus Andersson Garpvall (SD)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer! I believe I have received good answers to my questions, so I can conclude by saying something that I have probably said before.
It feels good that we have a majority in Sweden's Riksdag that takes these important issues seriously, that one is not naive and that one is also prepared to implement the measures required to address today's major societal problems. My conviction is that the Tidö Agreement and the Tidö cooperation will gradually get Sweden on the right course. We are now in the second half of the parliamentary term, and we see that much has been completed and much has been started. Things are beginning to turn, and in several areas we are beginning to see some form of light at the end of the tunnel.
We have many big problems in Sweden that are a legacy from the time before the Tidö cooperation, but step by step we are implementing the measures that are needed to recreate a safer Sweden.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Once again, thank you, Pontus Andersson Garpvall, for the opportunity to discuss these pressing issues this evening!
Fraud targeting the elderly is a feature of our contemporary society that no decent person can accept. We have a moral obligation to do everything we can to push back that criminality.
We know that it is a very lucrative activity for organized crime. It generates very large profits, and as I said initially, the risk of detection and prosecution is all too low. This is what we intend to change.
We know that it entails enormous costs for the elderly who are affected, both economically and humanly. This type of fraud is associated with humiliation, violation, and shame. Both the economic and the human costs associated with this crime are reasons for us to do what we can to push it back.
We also know that if we are to tackle organized crime, we must choke the criminal economy. We must do it in such a way that we also protect the surrounding society against serious crime and provide redress to those who are affected as crime victims.
The questions raised by the interpellator today are ones we must truly hold fast to. I look forward to continued good cooperation in order to push back this crime.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.