Lithuania Thwarts Phone Scammers: Call Volume Drops Sharply

Lithuania is proving a tough challenge for phone scammers, with the number of malicious calls plummeting dramatically. Vytautas Bučinskas, Head of Business Assurance, Resilience, and Sustainability at Telia, reported that while the problem has been largely managed, vigilance remains necessary.

"Phone scammer activity is not completely stopped, as technologies are constantly changing, and criminals are looking for new loopholes in systems. But now we see that attacks are significantly receding," Bučinskas stated. He noted that scammers are less frequently attempting to impersonate Lithuanian numbers because filters across all operators are now working in unison. Telia alone used to block 100,000-150,000 calls weekly, a figure now reduced to around 50,000, representing a multi-fold decrease from the peak.

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Phone scammer activity is not completely stopped, as technologies are constantly changing, and criminals are looking for new loopholes in systems. But now we see that attacks are significantly receding.

Official figures from the Radio and Television Commission (RRT) illustrate the success of these protective measures. During the eighth week of the year, Telia's network identified and blocked over 1.1 million fraudulent international calls. By the ninth week, after operators fully synchronized their filters, the number of blocked calls dropped significantly. In early May, Telia blocked just 46,000 calls, a nearly 25-fold reduction that demonstrates effective technical barriers are forcing scammers to reduce their intensity.

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Public education has paid off. People now know well how to act and where to turn when encountering scammers. However, the most encouraging aspect is that individuals are increasingly less likely to fall victim, as threats are blocked at the network level.

Public awareness campaigns have also played a crucial role. The National Cyber Security Center (NKSC) registered 2,848 incidents on its platform over 44 days, averaging 65 daily reports. While daily reports sometimes reached 140-150 in late March and early April, the trend is now sharply downward. "Public education has paid off. People now know well how to act and where to turn when encountering scammers," Bučinskas said. He added that the most encouraging aspect is that individuals are increasingly less likely to fall victim, as threats are blocked at the network level.

Scammers are now exploring new avenues, attempting calls from foreign numbers. However, cultural differences and inherent Lithuanian skepticism present further obstacles. "Lithuanians are not gullible. If they see an unfamiliar foreign country code at the beginning of a number, they simply do not pick up the phone," Bučinskas explained, contrasting this with practices in Scandinavia.

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Lithuanians are not gullible. If they see an unfamiliar foreign country code at the beginning of a number, they simply do not pick up the phone