A 25-year-old man from Assen has been sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for large-scale bank help desk fraud. The punishment is equal to the requirement of the Public Prosecution Service (OM).
The Assenaar was arrested in March last year after being tapped and observed. Since September 2021, the police have received dozens of reports from people who had been defrauded by a ‘bank employee’. The telephone numbers that were used for this led to the Assenaar.
In the end, 64 people reported the incident. The police tapped the Assenaar’s phone and placed a camera aimed at his home. This showed that he had scam conversations with victims, while he was alone at home. He pretended to be a bank employee and had victims click on a link after which he took money from them.
During a search of the house, the agents found three telephones that were used for this purpose. The Assenaar had also created several accounts for online payments. In his phones, the agents found lists of thousands of phone numbers traded by criminals for scams.
The officers also noticed that the twenty-something was walking around in expensive clothing. The man seemed to lead a luxurious life, while he was under supervision and had to live on fifty euros a week. He couldn’t explain this. The Assenaar remained silent after his arrest. At the hearing, the man told that he lent his phones. But the judge didn’t believe that.
According to the judge, the man has grossly betrayed the trust people have in their bank and online banking. An Assenaar of the same age heard a community service of 150 hours demanded against him for his smaller share. The judge only found the healing of a bicycle proven and imposed a community service of 20 hours on him.