Central Bank of Estonia to hold 5 March seminar on tackling the surge in payment fraud

The Central Bank of Estonia will host a public seminar on 5 March focused on how to tackle and prevent payment fraud, bringing together the police, banks, communications providers and other partners to examine why scams continue to succeed and what changes are needed in the legal environment, technology and cross-sector cooperation to reduce losses. The central bank points to statistics from Eesti Pank and the police indicating that payment scams have reached “pandemic” proportions in Estonia despite ongoing investment in security controls by banks and telecoms providers. The agenda includes an opening address by Jaagup Toompuu of the Police and Border Guard Board on scam techniques and financial harm, followed by expert discussions covering how to recognise scams, the technical and psychological methods used to deceive victims, weaknesses criminals exploit, the security of Estonia’s digital solutions, whether the current legal framework supports anti-fraud efforts, and how losses are allocated between payment service providers and customers across European countries. A second panel will focus on solutions, including preventing scams where customers themselves authorise transactions, dealing with criminal misuse of digital identities, strengthening assurance before transaction confirmation, and improving rapid information exchange to stop scams.