The police have arrested a 26-year-old man from Diemen who is suspected of cheating people of money with a chat trick. It would concern at least eight cases of fraud, spread throughout the Netherlands. The police suspect that the man is involved in many more cases.
The detectives tracked down the suspect after he struck in Rijswijk, Omroep West reports. The scammer called his victim and pretended to be a bank employee. In the telephone conversation, he managed to persuade the older man to have his bank account digitally taken over by the suspect. When he also got hold of his victim’s bank card and associated PIN code, the suspect was able to withdraw a large amount of money.
The police investigation soon showed that the Rijswijk case could be linked to other cases across the country. Moments later, officers caught the man in the act. Computers were seized during the search of his home. The total loot is estimated by the police at 40,000 euros.
File a report
The police have been warning for some time about chatter tricks, in which criminals sometimes also ring the doorbell and try to find out their victims’ PIN codes with an excuse. “In any case, file a report,” said Sybren van der Velde of the National Police earlier. According to him, this happens too little because people are ashamed.
“The impact of such things is really huge, but people are very ashamed,” says Van der Velden. “The realization of what could have happened to them, and then also from someone they let in themselves. They blame themselves.”
- Ouderenbond makes members resistant to chat tricks with a course
