Charles Engelen feels desperate and Ans van den Broek is almost immediately full when she tells about what their initiative Pompidom Toys has happened. “It is so shit and so cowardly, but we have fallen victim to cyber crime,” says Charles with a lump in his throat. Around 15,000 euros from the bank account of the free toy store in Deurne has been stolen in a devious way, with the result that the survival of Pompidom is now uncertain.
“Why do you steal a small club that gives away free toys? There are companies that have much more money than we do,” says Charles. Scammers plundered the bank account of Pompidom Toys on Thursday. It was well filled because the subsidy from the municipality of Deurne had just been transferred. There was also money in the account of their collection campaign of Old Iron.
Pompidom once started with a toy collection for the holidays, but that got a bit out of hand. It is now a true toy paradise. Parents and children with a small fair can come and shop for free. Because of their special initiative, Charles and Ans were even named Brabantian of the year 2021.
“They killed our child!”
“But the scammers killed our child with their theft,” says Ans Angrily. “88 euros and 62 cents, so much is still on the bank account of the toy store in Deurne and everything still has to be paid. We have built Pompidom with heart and soul, but actually everything is broken now,” says the broken Charles.
With the subsidy from the municipality of Deurne, Charles and Ans can pay the rent of their charity store, gas, light and water. “But we do that collection of old iron every year to pay the insurance, the telephone subscription, but also the children’s parties and our company car,” explains the co -founder. “Say the extras.”
“All the required money was just in for this year.”
“On Wednesday Ans told me that we can go on quietly for the rest of the year and do not have to worry financially. And now the worries are so great that you no longer sleep,” says Charles. Because a day later everything was gone. “And we help 7,500 people a year.”
It hurts Charles and Ans that they have kicked their tricks in the scammers. “We received an e-mail from the tax authorities on Tuesday and if you get it, you just look.” Ans goes to Mijnoverheid.nl via the link in the mail, but arrived there, there is no more message from the tax authorities and the mail has also disappeared spontaneously.
“I thought, that is not possible at all and yet you stink in it.”
A day later, the cyber criminals hit their way and empty Pompidom’s bank account, Charles looks back. “I was working and received a message that money had been credited to Pompidom’s ING account. But I didn’t think that is possible at all.” At that time Ans herself was already on the phone with her own bank, the ABN Amro because of so -called suspicious transactions. “On her phone screen it could even be seen that she was called by the ABN Amro Bank.”
The fake bank employee knew everything about Ans and Pompidom and also referred to the so -called incident the day before. “He did not need security codes, or login, or passwords. Ans only had to log in to check if there was an amount ready to be transferred. She did that via the Pompidom ING account, the money was transferred and then the evil was done,” sighs Charles.
“I’m afraid of an empty store.”
The moment they saw the empty bank account was immediately fear. “For an empty store, because with those few tens we won’t make it,” says Charles. He calls city and country to find sponsors. “But most companies and organizations have already divided their sponsor money.” Pompidom is therefore one crowdfunding action started. “After all our help to poor families in the region, I hope that people can help us to survive”
Ans cannot imagine that it will stop, but is still afraid of it. “This was my new goal in life. I was eliminated on the labor market and then I was allowed to do this. People, families and in particular help children. And for them it is the worst when Pompidom stops.”
