A 22-year-old woman from Emmen has to perform a community service of 60 hours for handing over her bank details to criminals. The punishment is equal to the requirement of the Public Prosecution Service (OM).
According to the judge, the woman deliberately lent out her bank card and PIN for fraudulent practices in May 2020. WhatsApp fraudsters deposited the stolen money into the woman’s account and the money was immediately withdrawn from it. According to the judge, the woman was an important link in this criminal chain as a money mule.
De Emmense had lost her bank card, she said and reported this. She told the judge that she then saw a black Mercedes at her home several times. The judge did not believe this story. There are no address details on a bank card. “How can others know where you live on the basis of a bank card,” said the judge.
The woman then suggested that her router may have been hacked. “The PIN code does not go through the router”, the judge dismissed this story. The woman had no reasonable alternative how criminals obtained her bank details, the judge said. She then handed it over herself with the aim of enabling a crime. And that is punishable, said the judge.
The judge took the passage of time into account in the punishment and the woman has not been convicted before. As a result, the community service was limited. The biggest blow to her was paying back the stolen money to the victims: 6,900 euros.