Individual authorities have a limited capacity to keep abreast of the latest scam methods and inform consumers about them. To amend this situation, the Consumer Agency set up a network to combat fraud in 2007.
The purpose of this network is to enhance information exchange and cooperation among entities working on fraud. The network can be used to find out how extensive problems are so that consumers can be warned of new developments in a timely way.
Victims of fraud often do not report it to the authorities. This may partly be due to feelings of shame about having been gullible. The amount of money consumers lose is often too small for them to take the trouble of trying to get it back. Among the consumers cheated by an American pyramid marketing company called Skybiz.com, for example, data from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) indicates that more than 4,300 people in Finland were affected. However, only a few of them have contacted the Finnish Consumer Agency.
The network to combat fraud would like to encourage consumers to share information about suspicious cases as quickly as possible. There's no need to be ashamed of having been cheated. Swindlers are often professionals with connections to international financial crime. Scam-related advertisements, letters, websites and phone calls are so carefully planned and carried out that they seem to be genuine.
The network to combat fraud includes the following entities:
The card payment service company Luottokunta and Itella Oyj are also working against fraud in cooperation with the authorities because they have a central role in electronic payment transmission and product transport.
The model for the Finnish network is the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN), an organisation of authorities that supervise marketing, which includes more than 30 countries. The network was established in 1992, and the Consumer Agency has participated in its activities from the start. Through the network, the Consumer Agency has obtained information not only about the latest scam trends, but also about methods to combat fraud.