According to the judiciary, the house worked as a kind of ‘call center’. The suspects – two men from Hilversum (19 and 21 years old) and a 19 -year -old from Almere – called their victims from the house. In addition, they searched specifically for fixed telephone connections. They would have done that for a reason: the elderly more often have a fixed line.
The callers occurred as agents who warned of so -called threatening bank fraud. In two days they made twelve victims, in Barneveld, Ede and Amersfoort. Eleven of the cases involved attempted scams, but an 81-year-old woman captured his bank passes. This included 590 euros.
“She clearly trusted the voice on the phone,” said the public prosecutor in the court in Zutphen. “And she then trusted the person who came to the door. And with that confidence she gave her valuables. Not because she is naive, but because she believes in the rule of law and in the police as the right enforcement.”
The management from the home
The division of roles between the suspects was clear: the Almeerder managed the scam from Hilversum. He called victims, searched telephone numbers and had contact with his co -perpetrators who went past the doors. For his role, the OM demands 28 months in prison, 8 of which are conditional.
Penalties of 24 months (6 conditional) and 18 months (6 conditional) were demanded against the two Hilversummers.
Losing trust in rule of law
That the victims abused the trust of the elderly, the Public Prosecution Service charges the suspects considerably. “This form of organized crime has a society disruptive character. Vulnerable elderly people lose their beliefs in our law enforcers, and thus their confidence in the rule of law. The suspects have misused that trust in devious, calculated and downright cowardly,” the OM said.
The suspects were arrested earlier, on October 31, when the scam came to light. The court will be ruling soon.