The Central Bureau of Investigation announced Friday that two key suspects had been caught over the country's largest fake police fraud.

One was caught in Stockholm and the other was caught on a Swedish ferry on his way to Finland, the police said. The case was investigated in cooperation with Finnish banks and the Swedish police.

The suspects were estimated to have cheated elderly people out of 250,000 to 400,000 euros. The police believe this to be the largest case associated with fake police frauds in Finland.

According to the police, the suspects had several assistants in Finland who received and transferred the money.

The main suspects had committed similar crimes in the past. They were imprisoned last Christmas, but were later released and subject to a travel ban. However, both violated the ban and returned to Sweden at the turn of the year.

The Central Bureau of Investigation noted that fake police crimes had dramatically increased in Finland in the past year, with nearly 1,000 criminal notices related to such cases received by the police.

"Frauds have been done aggressively and are mostly directed to the elderly," said Kai Kakela, detective chief inspector at the Central Finland Police Department.