The Public Prosecution Service (OM) in Northern Netherlands has demanded up to five years in prison against four men, three from Leeuwarden and one from Groningen. They are suspected of involvement in large-scale bank helpdesk fraud. They have, in varying compositions, defrauded at least thirteen individuals for a small quarter of a million euros.
On December 19, 2023, the wife of a police officer reported a suspicious situation at a holiday park in Gasselternijveen after the suspects parked a car in the wrong place. She approached their holiday home, smelled a strong odor of marijuana, and saw drugs on the table. She also saw four men sitting behind a laptop. She reported the license plates, after which her husband saw registrations in the systems for cybercrime and drug trafficking. The police officer suspected that bank helpdesk fraud was being committed in the house.
Call center
The four suspects were apprehended in and around the holiday park, and the holiday home was searched. The police found what they described as a “call-center-like” setting. Ultimately, four laptops, thirteen phones, and a large number of SIM cards were seized. During a search of the residence where three of the four suspects live in Leeuwarden, the police found more than one hundred SIM cards.
Criminal organization
The OM suspects the four men of participating in a criminal organization involved in fraud, theft, computer intrusion, and money laundering from mid-July 2023 until the raid in the holiday park. The suspects preferred to work from holiday homes. According to the OM, it can be proven that they also operated from parks in or near Orvelte, Emmen, and Appelscha.
Fish and baro
The suspects’ collaboration is evidenced by their mutual way of communicating and using coded language. In this, victims are referred to as ‘fish’ and a bank as ‘baro’. They called victims using phones from others, posed as bank employees, and then logged into victims’ phones or computers using software.
For instance, a woman lost nearly 60,000 euros in three days. The money was transferred from her bank account to someone elses account (a money mule), and from that account, the suspects bought something or withdrew cash. This way, they remained under the radar.
Can of worms
The suspects operated cleverly. Traces were erased and a large portion of the seized items could not be examined. “I dare to say without hesitation that the true extent of the facts in which the suspects were involved is much larger,” the prosecutor said today in court in Assen. “I have often wondered what can of worms would be opened if all data carriers were made available.”
In this case, the suspects either remain silent or present ‘utterly incredible nonsense’ in the eyes of the prosecutor. They show no signs of remorse.
Prison sentences
The prosecutor demands five years in prison for two suspects aged 26 and 23 from Leeuwarden. For the 27-year-old suspect from Groningen, the OM demands 4.5 years, and for a 29-year-old man from Leeuwarden, four years in prison.
The court will render a verdict in this case on April 18, 2025.