They feel incredibly stupid. Normally they don’t fall for chatter tricks, but this was so convincing. Cyber criminals approached Cor (77) and Bianca Valk (63) from Den Helder with the information that fraudulent matters were happening on their bank account. They managed to convince the couple to transfer money so that an investigation could be conducted by the police.
The two transferred 1,500 euros via a counterfeit banking app, allowing the criminals to view all codes. After they were kindly thanked by the ‘bank employees’ for their cooperation, it turned out that 50,000 euros had disappeared from their account.
“I think I’m a big bastard,” says Cor Valk. “I’m normally quite alert, and then you fall into it. I no longer accept anything from myself. My wife and I have been sleeping poorly for days. Every day and night it haunts my head: ‘I wish I had done this or I had done that’.”
‘Pension pot in smoke’
It was their pension pot that, according to the couple, has now gone up in smoke. Last year they sold the Corma dance school to their daughter, after Cor developed health problems. Since they also have to transfer more than 43,000 euros in transfer tax to the tax authorities, the retired couple has no choice but to start giving ‘normal’ dance lessons again. And to limit the damage, their children have also started a fundraising campaign.
“We’ll have to. We don’t have old age anymore.” According to Cor, the bank does not want to pay out. “We clicked on a link ourselves, they say. That’s why they don’t want to pay. Everything indicates that you were scammed, and now they’re letting you down. That’s why you’ve been a customer for 55 years…”