Parties push to make identity theft a crime

Scammers managed to steal more than 100,000 kroner from a nurse’s bank account using her NemID

Several political parties are looking into legislation to make identity theft a crime after the discovery of scams in which perpetrators were able to steal money using another person’s NemID.

DR reported on Monday about a 38-year-old nurse named Sigrid who had 124,000 kroner stolen from her bank accounts through her NemID. An IT expert believed perpetrators monitored her use of NemID and later intercepted a key card sent to her by mail.

Cases such as these prompted members of SF to support a criminal code provision on identity theft, vowing to bring the matter up with the minister of justice, Nick Hekkerup.

Update to digital age
Enhedslisten politician Rosa Lund is also in favour of strengthening laws to address the abuse of personal data.

“The internet has given us many good things, but it has also meant that some criminals have found new ways to commit crime … that is why we should review our criminal law and have it updated for the digital age,” said Lund.

A survey recently revealed up to 20,000 Danes had their personal data misused in 2019.

Library computers
The use of library computers could be a weak link enabling scams.

Local police and IT experts said it was likely that in Sigrid’s case, perpetrators obtained her CPR number and NemID after she used them on a local library computer. Her last name was withheld due to security reasons.