Justice suspects Assenaar of fraud via dating sites and human trafficking

A 30-year-old man from Assen is suspected of having defrauded at least five men for tons from 2017. In 2020, according to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), he sent a young woman to make appointments with men via dating sites and to get money from them.

The Assenaar and his 22-year-old co-defendant will hear today what the Public Prosecution Service (OM) is demanding against them.

According to the Public Prosecution Service, the Assenaar incited the woman to prostitution. She had to hand over the money to him. She was under the influence of the man and thought she was in a relationship with him. According to the OM, the man abused the woman’s vulnerability and she was a ‘earning model’ for him. The Public Prosecution Service also accuses Assenaar of human trafficking and money laundering. This was apparent from an earlier hearing in February 2021, when the case had not yet been substantively dealt with. The woman had probably become the victim of loverboy practices, the public prosecutor said at the time.

The woman was arrested in November 2020 from her mother. The Assenaar had meanwhile left for Morocco. The woman wanted to follow him, she already had the suitcases ready. After three months in pre-trial detention, she was transferred to a clinic for victims of loverboys. The Assenaar was still arrested and has been in custody ever since. Thursday was the substantive hearing of the case. Then it turned out that the Assenaar, according to the Public Prosecution Service, has stolen almost half a million.

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