Thousands conned in mobile phone fraud

Sweden's major provider of telecommunication services, Telia Sonera, is at the centre of a phone scam. According to Tuesday's Expressen, thousands of subscribers to the network have received fake missed call alerts on their phone. When they tried to connect to the service their credit was emptied from their accounts.

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The number has been located to the British island of Diego Garcia. When callers reached the operator a voice asked them to hold, while credit was clocked up for the call.

As soon as the attack on the company was discovered all of Telia's mobile phone services were barred throughout the country. The company has agreed to refund all the customers that have lost money.

"We do not know the extent of the damage that this fraud has caused but we intend to find out all the details before starting to reimburse people", said Lars Billström, Press Officer at Telia Sonera.

Meanwhile, Sunday's DN reported that a 'fake rug' scam is being investigated in western Sweden. Well-to-do elderly people have been lured into buying expensive woven rugs for thousands of crowns - and the rugs have all turned out to be fakes.

In May a registered address search company received a query for addresses of people between the age of 70 and 77, living in or near Göteborg, Stenungsund, Kungälv or Kungsbacka. The company was also asked to provide details about the capital assets for all of these people.

"When we checked our register of complaints we discovered that most of those who had been conned were on the address list for this query", said Michael von der Burgh of Gothenburg police.