Nice guys never win People today could stand to be a little less rude. Unless, that is, they're talking to scammers. Then they can use all the profanities they want. In Sweden, celebrities are promoting a national operation against fraud, one that tells the country: Dare to be rude.
Swedish police authority Polisen writes that total profits from fraud in the country amounted to 5.7 billion SEK, around $575.3 million. As is the case everywhere, the most common targets are elderly people.
To fight back against the practice, a campaign has been launched featuring four celebrities from the Nordic nation. One of them, 74-year-old Suzanne Reuter, says many people of her generation have been raised to always be polite and accommodating. But as those are traits that scammers are quick to exploit, they need to be more questioning. Reuter adds that this isn't rude; it's self-protection.
The most common types of scams against people over 60 in Sweden are telephone-based. These often start with a text message in which the scammers claim to represent an official body, such as a government agency, a company, a bank or an association. The message contains a phone number that the recipient is asked to call for help or more information.
When the person calls this number, scammers use prepared scripts to gain the person's trust while inducing stress and creating a sense of urgency to act quickly. They're sometimes told a crime is taking place and money needs to be moved from their account into another one to protect it.
The campaign urges people to feel more comfortable simply hanging up the phone if they believe anything is amiss during the call.
The same applies to fake officer scams. These involve criminals turning up at someone's door dressed as police. They then tell a story that somehow culminates in the victim needing to hand over credit cards or valuables such as gold, which the owner never sees again.
Polisen's national operations leader, Robert Öhman, said police would never ask to collect and safely store a person's items, and urged people to ignore their inclination to be polite by shutting the door at the slightest hesitation.
In addition to the personal loss suffered by victims, police warn that the stolen goods are often used to help fund other serious crimes.
In the US, adults aged 60 and over reported $7.75 billion in losses across 201,266 complaints in 2025, up 59% from 2024, according to the FBI. Investment, tech support and romance scams caused some of the largest losses, with more than 12,000 people reporting losses exceeding $100,000.
Although older adults are less likely than younger people to report losing money to fraud, they typically lose more when they do, according to the FTC. These figures only reflect reported cases, so the actual financial toll is likely higher.