Netherlands residents lost €3.2 billion to theft, fraud last year; Bike thefts up 30%

Last year, Netherlands residents reported falling victim to 3.6 million property crimes, like theft or fraud, and 1 million acts of vandalism. The reported damage amounted to 3.2 billion euros, 13 percent more than two years earlier. The number of bike thefts increased by a third. And damage from bike thefts and pickpocketing increased by half, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported in its 2023 Safety Monitor.

CBS releases the Safety Monitor with the Ministry of Justice and Security every two years. Last year, the statistics office surveyed 182,000 Netherlands residents aged 15 or older about the crimes they fell victim to.

In 2023, 4.7 million crimes were committed against citizens that resulted in financial damage, 500,000 more than in 2021. 77 percent of these crimes involved theft of money or goods, and 23 percent were vandalism.

Fraud in online purchases was the most common crime last year but did not increase compared to 2021. In 2023, Netherlands residents reported online shopping fraud 1.3 million times. In half of the cases, the damage suffered was less than 60 euros.

Last year, 928,000 bicycles were stolen in the Netherlands, 30 percent more than in 2021. Half of the bikes stolen were worth less than 350 euros. Still, damage suffered from bike thefts increased by 50 percent, rising from 465 million in 2021, corrected for price developments, to 698 million euros last year. Damage from pickpocketing also increased by half, rising from 52 million euros to 82 million euros.

The number of victims of banking fraud in payment transactions also increased, with Netherlands residents reporting this crime 110,000 times last year. This involves criminals gaining access to the victim’s bank account by stealing a bank card or PIN code or through phishing. In half of these offenses, the damage was less than 300 euros. “Banking fraud occurred more often in 2023 than in 2021, but the damage per offense was lower,” CBS said.

According to the victims, financial service providers like banks, insurers, and credit card companies reimbursed a total of 1.2 billion euros of the damage they suffered. That is 38 percent of the total damage. Proportionally, the most damage compensated was for banking fraud in payment transactions, where financial service providers paid out 80 percent of the total damage.