84‑year-old recovers life savings after international scam
2:02 PM EDT, July 6, 2024
84-year-old Kari Suhonen from Helsinki went through a harrowing ordeal. The man lost his life savings. After months of uncertainty and thanks to the intervention of the police and the prosecutor's office, he recovered the money. Interestingly, a Polish connection unexpectedly emerged in this case.
Suhonen's nightmare began on January 23, 2024. At that time, he was contacted by someone claiming to be from a Norwegian bank. They informed him that there was concerning activity on his account.
In response, Suhonen explained that this was not his bank. He also mentioned that he had an account with the Nordea network.
Soon, a "representative of that bank" called. He said that we must quickly transfer the money to another account to keep the funds safe, Suhonen said in an interview with the portal svenska.yle.fi. I panicked; I thought the money was lost, he added.
The scammers were persuasive and spoke fluent Finnish, which led the 84-year-old to follow their instructions.
Finn learned the truth. "Money in Poland"
A little later, Suhonen realized what had happened.
I immediately called the bank. They told me: "yes, the money has been transferred; it is in Poland" - he recounted, as quoted by svenska.yle.fi.
It was "tens of thousands of euros." Suhonen asked the bank representative to halt the transaction.
The lady told me that the money had already been withdrawn. She said it was gone and nothing more could be done, added the 84-year-old.
The end of this story turned out to be fortunate. After numerous interventions, Suhonen achieved his goal. When he checked his bank account at the beginning of May, he almost fell off his chair.
A transfer appeared from the Polish prosecutor's office in the amount corresponding to my savings! Thanks to the police and prosecutors in Poland and Finland, I got my funds back. I am grateful to them, he concluded.
At the same time, he did not hide his great resentment toward the bank representatives. He believes they didn't do everything they could to help him recover the funds.
