The Ministry of Finance wants a communication strategy and awareness campaign for preventing financial fraud with a price tag of €300,000
Last year, nearly 3,700 people in Estonia fell victim to scams, with more than €29 million fraudulently taken from them. The most common schemes were scam calls and investment fraud.
The Ministry of Finance is now seeking a partner to develop a communication strategy and then begin informing the public in order to reduce the number of people falling victim to scams. The goal is to raise awareness of financial fraud and provide practical guidance on how to protect one’s money.
“Although it may seem that this topic is widely discussed across various channels, there are still many people who are not reached by information about scams and are therefore easy targets for fraudsters. At the same time, scammers’ methods and technological tools continue to evolve, making it increasingly difficult even for vigilant citizens to recognize fraud,” the ministry notes in its procurement documents.
According to the Ministry of Finance, effectively countering scams requires raising public awareness, but this cannot rely solely on the efforts of banks — the state must also intervene.
“Public information campaigns led by the state are clearly more effective for many people, as they are not perceived as mere advertising,” the ministry explained.
For this reason, the ministry is procuring a comprehensive solution for developing a communication strategy and carrying out a campaign, with an estimated total cost of €290,322 excluding VAT.
The campaign will include paid outreach activities as well as media relations, drafting press releases, engaging journalists, pitching stories to editorial offices and similar efforts. The contractor will also be required to create a dedicated website for the campaign or a subpage on an existing site, such as the Ministry of Finance’s website.
The nationwide awareness campaign is expected to take place this year and next and, according to the procurement terms, must involve behavioral scientists.
The activities will focus on vulnerable target groups and aim to teach people how to recognize scams and critically assess messages, calls and appeals they receive. Information on scam prevention will be made available through easily accessible channels and both public and private sector platforms will be used to disseminate messages.
The ministry has identified those aged 15–26 and people aged 65 and older as key target groups in need of greater awareness of scam risks, as well as less digitally experienced users and minors.
The campaign will be conducted in Estonian, but accommodations should also be made, where possible, for people with visual and hearing impairments. The goal is for at least 70 percent of the target audience to be reached by the campaign messages.
The Ministry of Finance hopes to sign a contract with a campaign partner in May.
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