The case
“My family is very neat. I am a bit of a black sheep.” Marciano M. (22) wears a white hoodie. He has short hair, which he sometimes runs his hand through. Two police officers have just led him in, because he is in pre-trial detention and has been taken from prison to the court in Amsterdam.
The public prosecutor believes that he posed as a female escort on various sites, including kinky.nl, and in this way extorted money from people who wanted to meet. If they didn’t pay, he would tell their loved ones everything. Four victims filed a report. They all transferred a few hundred euros to him via Tikkie before they realized they had been duped.
The question being discussed today in the Amsterdam court is how closely involved Marciano M. is in the fraud. He believes that he lent his account number to acquaintances and that in return he received a small percentage of the amounts deposited. But the judge and the public prosecutor have doubts about this. Because why was he in an app group with other people suspected of similar scams? And why were texts found on his phone such as: “If you transfer money, I will come to you, honey”?
The judge wants to know where he thought the money in his account came from. He shrugs. “I didn’t really look for anything behind it.” Amounts of money were regularly transferred to kinky.nl via Marciano M.’s account for the promotion of advertisements. How about that? Why did he pay for the website? “It’s just stupid, I made my account available and this is what happened.”
Marciano M. believes that he has lent his account number to acquaintances
And the app group he was in was just a group of friends, he says. He has no explanation for what exactly happened. It was a strange time, he says. “I just got out of prison and played a lot. Going out, parties, experiencing a lot after two and a half years in hell.” He shakes his head. “I lost my whole summer because of this stuff. Lost house, bad relationship. I’m just losing things because of this stupid behavior.”
M. answers many questions unclearly or not. “I invoke my right to remain silent,” he says when the judge asks about the contact he had with his cousin about the scam. “Your cousin is pointing at you,” says the judge.
At one point the judge raises her voice: “What was your intention in coming to this court?” she asks, when M. answers evasively for the umpteenth time. “I am here to apologize.” But if he wants to express remorse, the judge says, we should know what for, right? “We apparently don’t understand each other well,” she says.
“I think he finds it difficult to expose his buttocks because of his shame,” explains M’s lawyer.
“I have been in custody for six months. I want to move on with my life.” The judge finds it difficult to understand that Marciano has made the mistake again after his last prison sentence. “My previous punishment opened my eyes, this time I really saw the bright light.” Some of his friends already have a driver’s license, a car and even a child, he says. “But I have nothing at all.”
The officer notes that his criminal record is long: fraud, threats, domestic violence, theft. Earning money in such an easy way can be “quite addictive,” she tells him. “Have you thought about how to stop that? We often see people come back with scams.”
“It is indeed easy to earn money,” says M. “I want to find a job in construction. Just from nine to five. I want a wife and children. I want to be happy like every Dutch person. It may seem like I am a bad person. But I am a sweet boy, I am not going to be a rascal anymore. I promise: I will never go wrong again. I really want to be home for Christmas.”
Judgement
The public prosecutor does not believe that Marciano M. only became involved in the fraud later and that he only made his account number available. “The file actually shows that he had a leading role.”
The officer accuses Marciano of having “taken and defrauded victims in vulnerable territory.” “Sex is something very personal. The suspect extorted money by threatening to reveal to family that the victim was on this website; sometimes faith was involved. He abused vulnerabilities for his own financial gain.” She believes that Marciano is not taking full responsibility. “He only admits what he really cannot avoid. It is little about the victims, but mainly about the hell that is his detention.”
As far as the public prosecutor is concerned, Marciano M. is not home for Christmas yet. She demands twelve months in prison minus pre-trial detention – he has already been in custody for six months. The judge does not agree with this, as it turns out two weeks later. He receives a prison sentence of nine months, six of which are unconditional. That’s why he can go home straight away. He must pay back the victims. The judge considers it proven that Marciano is guilty of fraud, even though he himself says that he only lent out his account number.
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