The Finmish police reported that in 2018 alone Finnish investors were defrauded by telephone scammers for over 5 million USD. The police warns that this might be just the tip of the iceberg as many people have simply not reported the crime. Most scammers were calling from UK numbers with “exceptional investment opportunities”, promising fast and easy returns with an initial investment of about 200 USD – 300 USD. And in order to gain the victim’s trust, con artists were actually sending some money back, claiming this to be a profit. Later scammers would ask for a much larger amount and when the money were sent all communication would break down.
So much phone scamming.... As a general rule, "don't answer the phone". We should all have caller ID + blocking. If you're not expecting a call or you don't recognize the ID, block it. If it's important, caller will get in touch another way.
Finns are generally nice people. The 3rd world scum doing the scams (most likely) will turn them also into sceptics.
Scam with discounts! Nice. Scamming has evolved. Why don't they continue to offer moneyback? That way they can continue scamming and it will almost be like real investment where eventually they will get everything that the victim has.
In Asia, Nigerian scammers sweet talked the women and made those women transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to them. Funnily, women keep on becoming victims despite the news are reporting the incident from time to time. I am not sure how these people could fall for this.
3rd world? Im sure you have seen the film Boiler Room. These still seem to be around in the West. I been cold called by well spoken salesmen with strong british accents on more than one occasion in the last five years. I normally give a polite 'not interested' then hang up. There is another sucker born every minute. Also people with financial difficulties (most people) are constantly stressed out and will fall for these scams easier. They say being stressed out lowers your IQ by quite a bit.
I think scammers are ubiquitous all over the world, because greedy people with no empathy for others are ubiquitous. People, sadly, cannot be trusted.