Estonia Targets Couriers as Fraud Rings Use Local Language in €29M Scams
Estonian law enforcement is now focusing on apprehending local couriers after organized crime syndicates, often operating from abroad, successfully extracted nearly €29 million from thousands of residents in 2025 by deploying native Estonian speakers in multi-stage impersonation scams.
- —Estonian residents lost nearly €29 million to fraudsters in 2025, a figure almost double that of the previous year, with thousands of individuals falling victim to increasingly complex schemes.
- —Scammers are now frequently using the Estonian language, including native speakers, to target a wider demographic, with victims ranging from 20 to 80 years old.
- —Common fraud tactics include impersonating courier services to obtain personal codes and PINs, followed by calls from fake bank representatives or police officers to gain access to bank accounts.
- —Investment scams remain a highly profitable criminal activity, often involving multi-stage operations designed to deceive victims.
- —Law enforcement and financial institutions are collaborating internationally to apprehend fraudsters operating abroad and focus on detaining couriers within Estonia.
- —Banks are implementing IT solutions and public awareness campaigns, but recovering funds after a victim has authorized transactions and provided sensitive information is extremely difficult.
Recap
The surge in fraud is a strategic adaptation by organized crime, exploiting Estonia's digital infrastructure and linguistic landscape. The use of native speakers signals a deeper operational investment, while law enforcement's focus on low-level couriers highlights the difficulty of reaching the architects of these schemes operating abroad. This dynamic has created a high-yield, low-risk criminal enterprise that current countermeasures struggle to contain, systematically eroding public trust in digital finance.