Dutch police are raising urgent alarms over large-scale mortgage fraud that is funneling thousands of homes into criminal hands, fueling drug operations, human trafficking, and money laundering schemes across the country. Law enforcement officials, mortgage lenders, and notaries say existing laws are too lenient and are now urging the Tweede Kamer to enact sweeping changes to close loopholes in the housing market, police wrote in their press release.

According to Amsterdam police chief Pim Jansonius, investigations have uncovered around 8,000 fraudulent home purchases in recent years, linked to an estimated 60 million euros in criminal profits. “That may only be the tip of the iceberg,” he told RTL. Investigators say criminal networks are exploiting current regulations to acquire homes using forged income documents. These properties are often used to hide drug stashes, house illegal workers, or launder money through renovations and resales.

The phenomenon has spread well beyond major cities. Cases have surfaced in Badhoevedorp, Hoevelaken, Winschoten, and Zutphen, and in every one of the country’s ten regional police units. In one case from Overijssel, a mortgage adviser from Losser was convicted for fraud involving fake employer statements and received a 180-hour community service sentence along with a 180,000 euros fine. In total, at least 800 homes in the Amsterdam region alone were traced to fraudulent purchases.

Jansonius said the problem is accelerating with the help of modern technology. “With current digital tools like AI, it’s getting easier and easier to forge documents,” he warned. Investigators routinely discover cannabis plantations and firearms hidden behind the doors of these fraudulently acquired properties, along with evidence of financial crimes and labor exploitation. “We’re talking about operations that directly undermine the legal housing market and feed into the broader criminal economy,” he told RTL.

Police say one of the biggest problems is that mortgage lenders are not allowed to independently verify income data with the Dutch tax authorities. That loophole enables both opportunistic citizens and hardened criminals—ranging from drug dealers to pimps and exploiters of migrant laborers—to secure mortgages they wouldn’t otherwise qualify for. Jansonius emphasized the need for immediate reform, saying, “What we would very much like is for banks and other lenders to be allowed to verify income data with the Tax Authority. Right now, that’s simply not permitted.”

An investigation into drug trafficker Idris C. in Limburg in 2022 exposed a multi-million euro fraud scheme involving forged salary slips, bank statements, and business revenues. The police identified Wilco A., director of the now-defunct mortgage firm Meesters in Hypotheken, as a central figure in the operation. The company operated as a national chain and, according to investigators, worked with brokers, mortgage consultants, and bookkeeping offices to deceive lenders. In a telling detail, RTL reports that signed jerseys of Dutch national soccer players once hung in the company’s Houten office. Reports later revealed that several professional players had obtained mortgages through the firm, including at least one former top athlete whose expiring contract had been falsified to secure a loan.

In preparation for a roundtable discussion on financial and economic crime scheduled for May 28, the police have teamed up with the Royal Dutch Association of Civil-law Notaries (KNB), the Dutch Banking Association (NVB), and the Mortgage Fraud Prevention Foundation (SFH) to present a set of urgent proposals to the Tweede Kamer. They argue that the societal damage caused by mortgage and real estate fraud is too great to ignore. The current system, they say, allows criminal wealth to distort the already tight housing market, inflating prices and reducing tax revenue.

At the core of their proposed approach is stronger collaboration and information sharing between police, lenders, and notaries. Authorities want to close off fraud opportunities at the beginning of the mortgage process. That means allowing banks to verify reported incomes with the Tax Authority and enabling law enforcement to share intelligence with financial institutions when criminal activity is suspected. The goal is to stop fraud before it begins, rather than chasing it after damage is done.

Notaries also play a key role in the proposed crackdown. Their professional organization is calling for earlier involvement in property transactions so they can flag suspicious activity sooner. The KNB is also pushing for the swift introduction of a Central Shareholders Register (Centraal Aandeelhoudersregister, or CAHR) to expose who is really behind corporate entities that purchase real estate. Furthermore, notaries want the ability to share concerns about fraudulent actors among themselves, even though doing so would breach their longstanding obligation of confidentiality. According to the KNB, this breach is necessary to identify and block the “bad apples” operating in the housing sector.

The police warn that as long as mortgage providers remain legally blind to false documents and cannot confirm income claims with tax authorities, the fraud will persist. They also argue that the ease with which criminals can set up businesses in the Netherlands fuels the problem. An RTL investigation previously found that in just four years, about 15,000 businesses were registered with the Chamber of Commerce despite suspicions of criminal activity behind them.