A 27-year-old man from Den Bosch was handcuffed by the police on Tuesday because he is suspected of committing bank help desk fraud. He sought out his victims through obituaries in the newspaper.
It concerned very elderly relatives who had recently lost their partner. The man struck in Valkenburg and Brunssum, among other places.
In this scam, the resident of Bossche pretended to be a bank employee and telephoned the very elderly to extort money from them. He ran into the lamp after reports of a number of victims.
Block debit card
The criminal approached widows and widowers through obituaries in newspapers. The twenty-something told them that there was something wrong with their bank account and that they had to have their debit card blocked. He could help with that and visited the elderly.
They handed in their bank card and PIN code, after which the man could withdraw money from various ATMs. According to the police, the fraudster stole amounts between 2000 and 2500 euros. He also bought expensive items with the stolen payment cards.
Multiple arrests
The investigative services believe that he did not operate alone and expect to arrest several suspects soon. He struck not only in the south of Limburg, but also in other parts of the Netherlands.