Fraud is booming in Poland, but six in ten cases are dropped

Crime in Poland is falling. Fraud is the big exception, and experts warn that Black Week and the Christmas shopping rush are about to give scammers a very good season.

A new report from the Institute of Justice (a Polish state-linked research body) shows how wide the gap has become between the scams people report and the cases that ever reach a courtroom.

What do the numbers say?

Over the past ten years, ordinary theft, burglary and robbery have fallen by half. Fraud went the other way. In 2025, police recorded 158,877 fraud cases, four times more than in 1999.

That is almost 45% of all crimes against property. In 2024 and 2025, fraud outnumbered theft and burglary combined for the first time since 1999.

Then comes the drop-off. Between 2015 and 2020, about one in five fraud cases ended with an indictment. In 2024, prosecutors asked courts for a conviction in only 13% of cases, and 60% of investigations were discontinued.

Why is it so easy to get away with?

Researchers studied the files of several hundred court cases. Almost half (49%) involved a fake offer to sell something, or less often to do a job, online. Contact usually happened on OLX or Facebook Marketplace (popular online classifieds), and the buyer typically made the first move.

The pattern was simple: the "seller" asks for prepayment, and once the money arrives, the contact goes silent. In 38% of cases the sum was under 1,000 zloty. Sometimes the scammer only wanted a 50 or 100 zloty deposit.

Small amounts work in the scammer's favour. Victims are more willing to risk them, and they often don't bother going to the police. Małgorzata Miś of the consumer group Aquila says that when people do report, discontinued cases are common. Without a named culprit, she notes, there is little point in suing and the offender goes unpunished.

Prosecutor Marcin Skowronek explains part of the process. When the damage is under 200,000 zloty, police run the inquiry themselves. Prosecutors often hear about it only when they are asked to approve a discontinuation.

What does this mean for you?

The report suggests that the scams are rarely sophisticated. They rely on a convincing ad, a quick transfer or BLIK payment (Poland's instant mobile payment system) and a victim who acts fast.

With the biggest shopping weeks of the year ahead, that is worth remembering before you send a deposit to a stranger.