Two out of three adults in the Netherlands were victims of rip-off sales practices last year, at a total cost to society of over €579m, says the government’s consumer authority in a new report.

Some 70,000 people took part in the consumer authority’s survey, which looked at all sorts of sales tricks such as untrue health claims, promises of free gifts, aggressive telephone sales and the absuse of expensive telephone call numbers.
Junior economic affairs minister Frank Heemskerk, who recently steered new legislation on unfair trading practices through parliament, said in a statement that the report shows the importance of complaining.
‘Law-breakers can only be tackled on the basis of complaints,’ he said, pointing out that the new law can lead to fines of up to €450,000.

Everyone affected
The consumer authority said that all types of consumers are vulnerable to unscrupulous traders. ‘The English phrase ‘there is a scam for everyone’ would also appear to apply in the Netherlands,’ the ministry statement said.
Pensioners were not over-represented among the victims, but people on low incomes were more likely to be conned.
The Consumer Authority chairwoman Marije Hulshof said her organisation would make tracking down offenders and getting consumers to complain a priority in 2009. ‘People rarely report their experiences,’ she said. ‘So the problem is still largely invisible.’