Victims of dating fraud were scammed out of a total of 3,744,300 euros last year, almost double the 1,651,769 euros stolen from dating fraud victims two years ago, NU.nl reports based on figures from the Fraud Help Desk.
Last year, the Fraud Help Desk received 639 reports of dating fraud, compared to 412 in 2018. A total of 259 people fell victim to scams by someone pretending to date them in 2019. Victims were therefore scammed out of 14,457 euros on average.
Last year people in the Netherlands lost 1,056,805 euros to scams committed through WhatsApp, quadruple the 262,879 euros in damages sustained in 2018, NU.nl reports based on figures from the Fraud Help Desk.
In 2019, the Fraud Help Desk received 2,663 reports of WhatsApp fraud and 353 people actually fell victim to these scams, compared to 655 report and 124 victims in 2018. In the first two weeks of 2020, the hotline received 112 reports of scams and nine people reported falling victim to the scammers, losing over 38 thousand euros.
So far this year almost 15 thousand Dutch have fallen victim to phishing scams, the Fraud Help Desk announced on Friday based on the reports it received. Over 1.1 million euros were stolen in these scams, compared to 862 thousand euros in damages throughout all of 2018, NU.nl reports.
Fraudulent bitcoin investment advertisements using fake quotes from Dutch celebrities are becoming an increasingly prevalent problem in the Netherlands, the Fraud Help Desk told broadcaster NOS. People who fall for these scams are promised large profits on their "investment", but never see a cent.
More than a million Dutch people have been the victim of internet fraud in the last two years. In total the victims have been scammed out of more than 5 billion euros. This is evident from research done by the Fraud Help Desk, the national reporting point for questions and reports on fraud.
