Volunteers steal millions

Volunteers steal millions of euros from the organizations they work for every year, according to researcher Maarten den Ouden in the "Reformatorisch Dagblad."Den Ouden based his results on police reports of fraud and theft by volunteers, which add up to about 50 cases a year. Although the cases usually amount to a couple of thousand euros, sometimes the fraud is more extensive.

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In December alone volunteers stole about 750,000 euros, and Den Ouden points out that his research was only based on reported cases. He suspects the real extent of fraud is much bigger.

In most cases the treasurer is to blame, due to a lack of monitoring by the board.

The Association of Dutch Voluntary Effort Organizations (NOV) is shocked by the results. However, the Netherlands counts 5.5 million volunteers, and it's only logical there will be mishaps now and again, stated a spokesperson for NOV in a response to the study results.