Fraudsters intent on carrying out a bank scam inadvertently ended up talking to the presenter of Dutch crime show.

The programme, Plaats Delict (scene of the crime) was working on an item about a police campaign to prevent bank scams when the call came in.

The director, who was told he was speaking to a Rabobank fraud detector, handed his phone to presenter Jasper Lindner who then had a conversation with the conman lasting half an hour, local media reported.

“Levi from the fraud detection squad” began a “rambling and ridiculous story about IP addresses and a sub-refresh to prevent the IP address from being cloned,” Lindner said.

He was told to install software that would have enabled the fraudster to take over control of his computer.

“I pretended I didn’t understand what he was saying and said I’d ask my brother but he said every minute counted,” Lindner said. Lindner then asked, “Are you familiar with the programme Plaats Delict?” at which point the fraudster hung up.

A colleague then rang the number back but the phone was answered by a woman who refused to give her name and hung up as well.

“We run items about this sort of thing every week so it is funny that we were phoned by one today,” Lindner said.