Authorities’ grey economy prevention statistics reveal that economic crime is increasing and becoming more complicated

Criminals increasingly exploit companies as tools in their criminal activities. The amount of economic crime continues to increase, and different, even complicated, international arrangements are used in committing crime. These observations are based on the statistics that authorities published today on the website on the grey economy and economic crime.   

In 2025, a total of nearly 2,800 economic crime cases were reported to the police, which is roughly 6 per cent up from the previous year. Economic crime reported to the police has been on the increase for the past four years.   

Janne Marttinen, Director of the Grey Economy Information Unit, says that the growth of economic crime is apparent throughout the authority sector.  

“Both crime prevention authorities’ and supervisory authorities’ statistics show that economic crime is becoming increasingly more common, complicated and international. Long chains of companies and individuals are exploited in criminal activities to make things more difficult for authorities,” says Marttinen.

Companies are used to circumvent sanctions     

The use of companies in criminal activities is evident from the enforcement of sanctions performed by Customs, for example. Suspected crime involving sanctions imposed against Russia and their circumvention has been a major phenomenon since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In 2025, Customs recorded 43 regulation offences for activities in breach of the sanctions, of which 17 cases were investigated as suspected aggravated regulation offences. Customs also recorded 3 sanction offences in 2025. Most of the last year’s pre-trial investigations related to circumvention of sanctions through companies and business operations.    

“Complex international business networks and different intermediaries and front companies are used to transport goods to Russia. Transport channels are changed, and seller companies are misled with cover stories and forged documents. Criminals are also very agile when it comes to changing their ways of operating as new sanctions are imposed,” says Petri Lounatmaa, Director at Customs.    

Effective prevention of crime requires sufficient powers and resources  

The use of companies in criminal activities is also a familiar phenomenon at the Tax Administration.    

“According to our observations, criminals establish new companies for grey economy activities, and to commit crime and cover it up. Long-standing companies are also taken over and used as a front for criminal activities,” says Tarja Valsi, Director at the Tax Administration’s unit in charge of combating the shadow economy.  

Grey economy and economic crime exist in all authority sectors, so we should also cooperate to take preventive action,” says Janne Marttinen.    

“Already at present, different authorities are taking preventive efforts with excellent results. However, we need legislation that enables better exchange of information between authorities. For example, Compliance Reports created by the Grey Information Economy Unit provide a lot of information that can be used in the prevention of economic crime, but there is still room for improvement in the way they are used by public authorities,” says Marttinen.    

Highlights on public authorities’ efforts to combat the grey economy in 2025  

Prevention statistics are published annually on the Grey economy & economic crime webpage by the occupational safety and health authorities (Finnish Supervisory Agency), the Finnish Tax Administration, Kela, Customs, the Police, the National Prosecution Authority, the Office of Bankruptcy Ombudsman, the National Enforcement Authority Finland, the Finnish Centre for Pensions, the Employment Fund, the Economic Development Centre, the alcohol administration (Finnish Supervisory Agency) and the Finnish Food Authority.  

The 2025 statistics show, for example, that:  

• Customs confiscated and seized around 16.5 million cigarettes in connection with crime, by far the biggest volume in the past ten years.  
• Kela submitted 471 investigation requests regarding benefits abuse to the police. This kind of abuse is often linked to certain grey economy phenomena, such as undeclared wages and forged documents. The total value of abuse cases that led to investigation requests was €3.8 million.  
• Altogether 3,310 bankruptcy proceedings were launched. The number of bankruptcy proceedings increased by 9 per cent from the previous year.  
• Around 2,8 million debt collection cases were initiated. The number of private law cases increased by nearly 11 per cent. National Enforcement Authority Finland collected nearly €1.5 billion from debtors.   
• The occupational safety and health authorities reported 10 cases of work discrimination and extortionate work discrimination to the police. A total of 60 requests for pre-trial investigation were submitted to the police on employers who had used unauthorised foreign labour. Altogether 8 cases of extortion were reported. In addition, the occupational safety and health authorities submitted 9 statements in human trafficking cases to the police or prosecutor. 
• The Tax Administration imposed over €240 million in taxes as a result of tax audits conducted to combat the grey economy.  
• While supervising the grant of alcohol licences, the alcohol administration made 205 requests for further information. During post supervision, 214 requests for information regarding financial conditions were made. The tax debt payments resulting from the actions taken totalled around €4 million.   
• The Economic Development Centre of Uusimaa made a total of 1,236 interim decisions on entrepreneurs’ residence permits, and 46% of them were negative. In the background, we can often find grey economy and economic crime phenomena, such as fake entrepreneurship and labour exploitation.

Read more:

Strategy and action plan for tackling the grey economy and economic crime 2024–2027