Fake invoice scam spreads rapidly from Sweden to Finland
Shady companies send advertisements masquerading as bills
Finnish companies have increasingly become targets of fake invoices. Tens of thousands of direct-mail advertisements for somewhat overpriced services have been sent to Finnish companies and individuals. Typically, the material is made to look like a bill for services rendered, and some of the recipients pay them out of carelessness.
Finnish police recently began a fraud investigation into the activities of the Swedish-based "Nord Sähkö", which has charged hundreds of euros for access to a web site offering energy advice. The price is disproportionate to the service offered, and officials say that the real purpose of the mailings seems to be to trick recipients into paying what looks like an electricity bill.
Meanwhile, charges of aggravated fraud have been filed in Helsinki against a Swedish entrepreneur behind a corporate catalogue company called Yellow Europa.
Companies sending false invoices have been active in Sweden for years.
False invoicing can be a lucrative scam: sending out tens of thousands of letters and setting up a web site costs relatively little. The material is often worded in such a way that it is difficult to prove charges of fraud in court.
The sums of money involved are usually so small in each individual case that taking the issue to court would be too expensive.
Yellow Europa is believed to have made the biggest profits so far. About 850 Finnish companies paid the "bills", helping a 26-year-old Swedish man earn about half a million euros.
Many of the companies thought that they were paying for advertising in the Yellow Pages of a telephone book. The trial begins next year.
Meanwhile, at least 34 companies and private individuals mainly in Southern Finland have filed criminal complaints against Nord Sähkö after paying invoices of EUR 650 - 900.
Nord Sähkö is also operated by a 26-year-old Swedish man, who has a history of failed shady business ventures behind him.
A number of Finnish entrepreneurs also operate under the same business idea. Police in Vantaa are investigating the activities of Etu Energia, which offers companies membership in an energy information service.
Affixed to the offer is an invoice for EUR 563 as payment for a "network fee". The invoice closely resembles bills sent by the electric utility Vantaan Energia.
The people behind the Finnish schemes are also young: the man behind Etu Energia, who lives in Kuusamo, is 29 years old, and faces charges of fraud.
The youngest person to be implicated in a false invoicing scheme so far is a 21-year-old man from Helsinki, who has operated in the name of two companies selling reading rights to an Internet publication called Uutislehti Suomi, and advertising space on a corporate web portal.
Earlier this year the Consumer Ombudsman banned the marketing of the publication to private individuals, because under the law, advertisements and bills must be easily distinguishable from each other. However, marketing to companies is outside the Consumer Ombudsman's authority.
Minister of Justice Johanes Koskinen (SDP) has proposed a law that would ban advertisements that resemble invoices.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 17.12.2004 - TODAY |
 Fake invoice scam spreads rapidly from Sweden to Finland |
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