You receive a call and when you answer the phone you hear an English spoken tape. The call is supposedly from the National Police, the Dutch Supreme Court, or the Ministry of Justice.
The calls seem to come from a random Dutch (mobile) number, or from the Supreme Court or the central government. In reality, these telephone numbers have been ‘spoofed’. Most telephone numbers are from private individuals or entrepreneurs who have nothing to do with it.
What is ultimately said on the phone varies:
- Your BSN number has been misused, or:
- There is a warrant for your arrest, or:
- You are part of criminal activity such as drug trafficking or money laundering.
After this you will be asked to press 1 to be connected to an ‘agent’. This agent will then ask you to verify your identity with data. We obviously do not recommend this.
Next, they tell you to ‘secure’ your money by transferring it to a ‘safe’ account number. Again, we do not recommend this, as you will lose this money.
In other cases, the receiver of the phone call is asked to download software that will eventually allow the caller access to your computer and your bank account. After that they can transfer your money themselves.
We also learned that some people have received money in their account and then they had to transfer it to various account numbers or a crypto wallet. Our advice for all the above: do not do this. The consequence may be that your bank account will be blocked by the bank because of fraudulent transactions.
Advice
We advise you to remain alert for future telephone calls or text messages and not to call back telephone numbers that are unknown to you.
Never transfer money based on a message or phone call but disconnect the call.
Also, do not pass on information or download software at the request of an unknown person.