Latvia Sounds the Alarm as Telecom Weaknesses Fuel a Surge in Trading and Investment Scams

Latvia is warning Europe that telecom operators have become the launchpad for today’s fastest growing trading scams. Regulators say most attacks now begin with spoofed calls, toxic SMS links or fake ads long before victims ever interact with a bank or a trading platform. For investors, the first breach now happens on their phone.

Officials say fraud groups are using telecom loopholes to impersonate brokers, clone regulated FX brands and steer users into fake trading portals. Criminals mimic local numbers, hijack ad networks and push SMS links that resemble real KYC or dashboard pages. By the time a payment is made, trust has already been engineered.

Finance Latvia Association chief Uldis Cērps urged lawmakers to shift the entire defence model. He said telecom security must be treated as a core financial-fraud control, not an optional add-on. Banks only see the final transaction stage. The real damage happens earlier.

Lawmakers agree and are preparing new enforcement rules aimed directly at trading-related scams. These include mandatory blocking of caller-ID spoofing, automated warnings on SMS messages containing investment links and real time sharing of malicious domains across all operators.

Committee chair Anda Čakša said penalties must rise for anyone impersonating regulators, tax officials or police. These identities are routinely used to pressure investors into approving transfers, sending credentials or granting remote access to devices.

Latvia also plans a national registry of fraudulent trading websites updated continuously for telecom filtering. Regulators say similar systems elsewhere cut attempted investment-fraud traffic significantly and closed thousands of attack routes that targeted retail traders.

Banks are building a shared intelligence tool to track fake brokers, manipulated account statements and new waves of social-engineering scripts. Officials say the industry must detect manipulation patterns before investors reach a payment screen.

The goal is clear and urgent. The fight against trading scams must begin the moment a fraudulent call or message enters the network.