Investment fraud

In recent years, the number of investment fraud cases has increased significantly in Estonia. According to the Police and Border Guard Board, people in Estonia lost over four million euros to investment fraud in 2024 and over six million euros in 2025. The actual damage might be much greater because not all victims go to the police.

What is investment fraud?

In cases of investment fraud, victims are lured by what appears to be an excellent opportunity to make money, with promises of little or no risk and a guaranteed return that is exceptionally high. However, the real aim of the criminals is to steal the victim’s money. Such investment opportunities may be offered in the form of cryptocurrencies, stocks, or bonds, which the criminal often presents as a new product, technology, or business opportunity.

Advertisements and websites promoting investment scams, as well as communication by telephone, are usually highly professional. On this basis, it is difficult to distinguish between investment fraud and a legitimate investment opportunity.

What channels do fraudsters use?

A person may receive an attractive investment offer in a number of ways, for example by telephone or email, on social media or while browsing the internet.

On social media, investment scams often spread in the form of fake news articles. Fraudsters very skilfully embed clues in the article about a new or excellent investment opportunity. This gives the victim the impression that they have discovered this opportunity entirely on their own and that no one else knows about the offer yet. But in reality, it is a trap cleverly set by fraudsters.

Therefore, you must check the website address letter by letter and avoid opening suspicious links.

Below are a few examples of fraudulent websites where instead of the authentic ‘err.ee’, ‘delfi.ee’, or ‘fin.ee’ (website of the Ministry of Finance) a fake version opened. Fraudsters may alter just a single letter in a website address. If you come across a website related to investment fraud, please send the link to cert@cert.ee. Your report is important so that the Information System Authority can remove fraudulent websites from the internet.

Another common method involves scammers messaging the victim on social media and build a relationship of trust, which then leads to talk of a lucrative investment opportunity.

It is therefore important, when identifying investment fraud, to verify the trustworthiness of the source or channel through which the offer reached you.

If you come across a fake account, page, post, or advert relating to investing on social media, take a screenshot of it, copy the web link, and forward this information to the DSA email address of the web police at dsa@politsei.ee.

Upon receiving the information at dsa@politsei.ee, the web police will assess the content provided and, if necessary, contact the relevant social media platform. In cases where there may be fraud, a fake account, a fraudulent advertisement, or other illegal content, the police may, depending on the circumstances of the case and the legal basis, request that the content be removed or that access to it be restricted. A report should always include a specific web link and screenshots.

If you have already fallen victim to fraud or transferred money to a fraudster, sending an email to dsa@politsei.ee is no substitute for filing a report with the police – in such cases, you must also file an offence report with the police.

How does investment fraud work?

The victim redirected to an investment platform (this could be a website or an app, which could also be available on a fully official app store).

The victim unsuspectingly makes a deposit to the platform set up by the fraudsters and enters their personal details or bank account details. Often, the victim will also receive a phone call from the scammer during the scam. The criminals build a trusting relationship with the victim and take advantage of their limited financial knowledge to influence their investment decisions.

At first, everything may seem to go well. The victim may get their money back, along with an unbelievably large profit. In reality, this is only done to win their trust and entice them to make even larger deposits.

Later on, the victim can no longer withdraw their money from the investment platform. Instead, they are asked to make additional payments (under the pretext of service fees, anti-money laundering surcharges, tax payments, or other excuses). The aim of the fraudsters is to extract as much money as possible from the victim. However, once the additional payments have been received, all communication is severed and the victim loses their money.

Fraudsters may promise to help you recover the money

In the case of both investment fraud and other fraudulent schemes, one must remain highly cautious even afterwards. The victim may be contacted again, giving them hope of recovering their lost money.

For example, they may present themselves as a lawyer, an investment adviser, or some other professional who can help resolve the situation. However, it may well be a case of fraudsters at work once again. As a result, the victim may lose even more money.

Warning signs:

• You receive an investment offer via a phone call, social media, or a social networking application that promises a fast return and a secure investment.
• You are promised very high returns or a guaranteed profit.
• You are promised a unique, personalised, or secret opportunity.
• You are pressured to act quickly, as the offer is only available for a short time or an additional ‘bonus’ is offered.
• No further information or comments can be found about the investment platform, the product offered, or the company, or these do not come from an impartial source.
• Communication may take place in a foreign language and they refuse to switch to Estonian.
• No contract is concluded and no investment terms are shared.
• You are asked to install software on your device, which in reality allows the criminal to control the device.
• You are not permitted to discuss the investment offer with others.

How to protect yourself?

• If you receive an unexpected phone call about an investment opportunity, do not make any decisions during the call. End the call. Do not reply to such emails or messages either. Be very cautious about the channel through which the investment offer reached you.
• Do not share your personal data (ID card details, bank card details, PIN codes, etc.) and do not enter them at someone else’s instruction or on any suspicious website.
• Do not download any programs onto your computer or smartphone that a stranger asks you to download.
• Take some time to think things through before making any investment decisions.
• Research the background of the offer as thoroughly as possible (for example, check the operating licence on the website of the Financial Supervision Authority or the relevant foreign supervisory authority. Check the company’s details in the registry of the relevant country. Search for the company’s name, telephone number, and email address on Google. Use Google Image Search on the photos on the website to see if the same images are being used elsewhere. Check the WHOIS database to see when the website’s domain was registered and read independent reviews).
• Seek advice from a professional investment adviser who holds an operating licence issued by the Financial Supervision Authority.
• Be critical of offers promising ‘quick riches and a safe investment’.
• If you have fallen victim to investment fraud, contact your bank immediately, using the contact details on the official website of the bank, and file an offence report with the police.

Here is an example of an investment fraud where the victim lost €26,000:

Activity	Example
The victim sees an ad on Facebook for a fake page in the Delfi portal about a gruesome crime.
The victim clicks on the ad and lands on the fake Delfi page. At this point, you should already notice that this is not the official delfi.ee website, but a fake site imitating the real one. To do this, you need to check the website address and compare it, letter by letter, with the correct delfi.ee address.
At the end of the article on the fake Delfi site, there is a link and an advertisement for an ‘investment platform’, through which the author of the article had allegedly earned €100,000 in a year.
The victim took out a loan and started ‘investing’ through the platform. They only realized it was a scam when they failed to withdraw their money from the platform.	On the investment platform, the victim was shown how their investments were growing.