Last year, more than 11,000 phishing files were received by the public prosecutor’s offices, a fifth of which were received by the West Flanders public prosecutor’s office. Yet in 8 out of 10 cases no investigation follows. This is evident from figures that Vlaams Belang MP Alexander Van Hoecke requested from Minister Verlinden.
“Phishing very often happens from abroad and it is therefore very difficult to track down the perpetrators. Yet there are cases that can be investigated and where the perpetrators can be caught. But then the public prosecutor of West Flanders says that he is aware of certain public prosecutor’s offices that would dismiss the case because of a political signal. So they should not necessarily dismiss the case, but they do not have the resources or manpower,” says Van Hoecke.