RIGA - Latvia's largest banks prevented attempts by scammers to defraud bank clients of more than EUR 14 million in 2025, which is more than the scammers managed to get away with, LETA was told at Finance Latvia Association.
The association noted that, despite preventive measures, people's losses from financial fraud still remain large - an average of EUR 1 million per month. The largest amounts are lost when people fall for phone scams. Last year, clients of Latvia's four largest banks lost EUR 6.5 million to phone scammers.
Meanwhile, criminals' methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and besides phone scams and investment fraud, there are more and more cases where people are defrauded of their properties, resulting in the loss of homes and savings.
To raise public awareness of financial fraud and the latest methods used by swindlers, Finance Latvia Association, in cooperation with the State Police, cybersecurity agency Cert.lv, and the Bank of Latvia, will hold an information event at the Verde office center in Riga next Thursday.
The event will look at how people rate their knowledge of cybersecurity risks, the amount of money stolen by scammers, and how many fraud attempts were prevented in 2025, the most common fraud methods and how fraudsters defraud the largest amounts.
As reported, in 2024, customers of Latvia's four largest banks were defrauded of EUR 15.5 million, while the banks managed to prevent the theft of EUR 12.2 million in 17,314 fraud cases.
Swedbank is the largest bank in Latvia by assets, followed by SEB Banka, Citadele, and the Latvian branch of Luminor Bank.
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