Estonia’s digital identity system has been beset by blunders and security issues that allow hackers to steal data and help scammers take money, we can reveal.
The digital ID system used by 1.4million people in the Baltic state country is said to be the blueprint for Keir Starmer‘s so-called Brit Card.
Digital ID cards showing a resident’s picture, name, unique number and date of birth, and including a microchip storing more personal information, have been used in the former Soviet republic for more than 20 years.
Estonians can hold their cards in e-wallets on mobile phones and use them to vote, check on bank accounts, e-sign contracts and invoices, file tax returns, claim benefits, book medical appointments, access health records, shop online, and even collect supermarket loyalty points.
But the much-praised scheme in Estonia has suffered security lapses that have allowed fraudsters to bypass encryption systems to con victims out of their savings and leak the names and photographs of citizens.
The Daily Mail can reveal that users have also repeatedly fallen victim to phishing emails and calls from scammers who have persuaded them to disclose PIN numbers for their cards and stolen cash from their bank accounts in a grim warning of what could happen in the UK.
Official figures reveal that citizens of so-called ‘E-Stonia’ lost more than 7million euros to fraud last year with 837 ‘significant’ incidents recorded, up from 546 in 2023, although the true figure is thought to be much higher due to many cases being unreported.
Reports suggest that the amount lost to fraud in Estonia has soared since last year with a total of 7.5million euros lost in the first six months this year.
A large number of the cases reported by Estonia’s Police and Border Guard are thought to involve personal information from ID cards being stolen due to people being tricked into revealing PIN codes.
Hellbound and Down 