Financial Fraud Awareness Campaign for Immigrants in Ethnic Grocery Stores
Holappa, Eino; Veijalainen, Mikko (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025111728319
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025111728319
Tiivistelmä
This thesis designed a targeted financial fraud awareness campaign for immigrants in Finland, commissioned by Finanssiala ry (Finance Finland). The project addressed a key challenge: improving the reach of finance fraud prevention among immigrants, who are vulnerable to financial scams.
The development task focused on creating a campaign concept for ethnic grocery stores. The proposed model integrates store advertising with posters and reusable shopping bags with a multilingual website accessible via QR code or direct link, providing guidance in Finland’s most common foreign languages.
The theoretical framework is based on literature and data on financial frauds, victim profiles, and immigrant vulnerability, sourced from the Police of Finland, Finance Finland, the Financial Intelligence Unit, and the Finnish Tax Administration.
A Thesis Design Sprint methodology, a five-day intensive process emphasizing ideation, prototyping, stakeholder feedback, and evaluation was applied. Methods included brainstorming (6-3-5 method), statistical and demographic analysis, manual mapping of ethnic store locations, and iterative testing with peers and clients.
Key results include a validated campaign model grounded in fraud trend data and immigrant shopping behaviors. Ethnic grocery stores emerged as effective outreach points due to their visibility and cultural relevance. The final concept features a striking “burning money” visual motif, trusted partner logos (banks, police), and multilingual accessibility. Campaign images were created using the AI tool ChatGPT 5.
Findings suggest that a community-based, visually engaging, and linguistically inclusive approach can enhance fraud prevention among immigrants. Future steps include pilot testing in Helsinki malls and expanding partnerships with immigrant associations.
Keywords: awareness campaign, financial fraud, Finland, immigrant integration, service design.
The development task focused on creating a campaign concept for ethnic grocery stores. The proposed model integrates store advertising with posters and reusable shopping bags with a multilingual website accessible via QR code or direct link, providing guidance in Finland’s most common foreign languages.
The theoretical framework is based on literature and data on financial frauds, victim profiles, and immigrant vulnerability, sourced from the Police of Finland, Finance Finland, the Financial Intelligence Unit, and the Finnish Tax Administration.
A Thesis Design Sprint methodology, a five-day intensive process emphasizing ideation, prototyping, stakeholder feedback, and evaluation was applied. Methods included brainstorming (6-3-5 method), statistical and demographic analysis, manual mapping of ethnic store locations, and iterative testing with peers and clients.
Key results include a validated campaign model grounded in fraud trend data and immigrant shopping behaviors. Ethnic grocery stores emerged as effective outreach points due to their visibility and cultural relevance. The final concept features a striking “burning money” visual motif, trusted partner logos (banks, police), and multilingual accessibility. Campaign images were created using the AI tool ChatGPT 5.
Findings suggest that a community-based, visually engaging, and linguistically inclusive approach can enhance fraud prevention among immigrants. Future steps include pilot testing in Helsinki malls and expanding partnerships with immigrant associations.
Keywords: awareness campaign, financial fraud, Finland, immigrant integration, service design.