If you have been deceived by scammers on the Internet, do not despair. Often the stolen money can be returned by bringing the fraudster to justice with new methods.
The number of fraud cases is rising like a tidal wave
A study conducted by the University of Twente (Universiteit Twente) showed that in 2020 every sixth resident of the Netherlands was a victim of fraud. The bulk of fraudulent activity occurs using the Internet.
The most widespread type of fraud is the following: the buyer pays for the selected product, but the purchases are not delivered to him. About 200 applications for misappropriation of money by this method are submitted to the police every day. However, most duped Dutch will be disappointed in the possibility of bringing the scammers to justice. The police have neither the time nor the people to investigate such comparatively petty crimes. Most of the fraudulent claims remain idle and do not produce results.
A new method of fighting for the return of funds stolen by Internet scammers
The Direct Liability Organization (Service Organisatie Directe Aansprakelijkstelling (SODA)) and the National Association of Bailiffs (Landelijke Associatie van Gerechtsdeurwaarders (LAVG)) are trying new methods to defend the rights of victims of Internet fraud. Their methods often allow you to return the money and bring the fraudster to justice. It is important that the payment for the services of these organizations also falls on the scammers. The police are also involved in this experiment.
We are talking about bringing online fraudsters to direct responsibility. The essence of the method is that the victim himself demanded the return of funds through the court, and did not wait for the end of the police investigation. In 2021, 200 victims of Internet fraud participated in the experiment. The police passed the data on the scammers to SODA and LAVG, who defended the interests of the victims of the scammers in court and facilitated the return of money after the decisions were made. Half of the victims managed to return the stolen funds in full or conclude an agreement with fraudsters on the return of funds in parts. About a quarter of the cases are still pending in the courts, so collection actions against fraudsters have not yet been taken.
The experiment focused specifically on cases of fraudulent purchases and sales on the Internet. Under the terms of the experiment, it was required that several complaints be filed against the prosecuted fraudster and that he did not belong to vulnerable groups of the population (drug addicts, bankrupts whose property is already under external control, minors).
The experiment was facilitated by the fact that the victims of fraudsters received the right to demand from banks information about the name and address of the owner of the account to which the money stolen from them was transferred. With this information, you can contact lawyers, collectors or bailiffs.
So far, LAVG bailiffs have handled thirty WhatsApp fraud cases. Damage ranged from 1000 to 8000 euros. In half of the cases, it was possible to agree with the recipient of the money on their return to the victims. If the fraudster does not agree, the case goes to court. By a court decision, the vehicles and funds of the swindlers are arrested and seized for their transfer to the victims.
Gijs van der Linden of the National Internet Fraud Hotline (Landelijk Meldpunt Internetoplichting) said the direct accountability experiment is very useful as the internet fraud boom needs to be curbed. Every scammer should know that the police or the bailiff will knock on his door. True, according to Gijs van der Linden, big scammers often evade responsibility using the so-called "money mules". These are fake recipients of funds belonging to vulnerable groups of the population, accepting money into their accounts and transferring it to real scammers.
However, Gijs van der Linden says of SODA and LAVG's achievements in bringing fraudsters directly to justice: "This is a good result, because otherwise these victims probably would not have received anything."
Publication Date: 06.04.2022
