Fraudsters continue to scam expats in the Netherlands with fake immigration fines

Fraudsters are continuing to try to con expats out of large sums of money and threatening them with deportation by claiming their immigration papers are not complete.

DutchNews.nl is aware of several new cases this year including one in Groningen and one in Rotterdam. There are also reports online of similar cons affecting Indian expats in Dubai and Singapore.

In the latest incident, a woman in Rotterdam was phoned by someone who said he was from the IND immigration service and made her verify his phone number was from the government site.

‘He said that the IND is missing a document… and because of that I can be deported or put in jail,’ the victim, who is an Indian national, told DutchNews.nl. ‘He kept on threatening me and asked about how far my office is from my home and said if I did not give him details like my resident permit number and BSN number they would send the police to my home.’

The woman told her caller he would have to talk to her husband and handed over his phone number. ‘I then realised they were fakes because if they are from IND then they should have had my husband’s number.’

‘The most important thing is the accent of the guy, it was quite Indian,’ she said. ‘I am not 100% sure but it felt like it was.’

In March, the Northern Times reported about how an international employee at the University of Groningen was phoned by someone claiming to be from the IND and threatened with deportation, detention or a fine.

That victim told the paper he had his doubts about the legitimacy of the call when he was told to transfer money to an account in Ukraine. The victim attempted to transfer the money via Western Union, but the transaction was refused by the company.

160 reports

In January, the justice ministry told DutchNews.nl that 160 expats had reported attempts to scam them out of cash by people posing as workers at the IND immigration service.

At least 10 attempts of those attempts have succeeded the ministry said.

According to Trouw, an internal investigation at the IND found that there was no evidence that calls were being made from within the service or that confidential information was leaked from the government.

DutchNews.nl has contacted the justice ministry for comment about the latest cases.

Have you received one of these calls? Please get in touch via editor@dutchnews.nl in strictest confidence.