While a crisis situation should be a moment of solidarity and help between people, there are still those who seek to profit from this moment of uncertainty.
Such was the case with two Dutch men, who have recently been arrested for trying to commit fraud with face masks, reports RTL Nieuws.
Fraud worth 900,000 euros
The fraudsters were caught by the Dutch tax investigative service called ‘FIOD’. The two men pretended to be suppliers of heavily-searched-after face masks.
Two buyers, representing undisclosed foreign government institutions, placed an order of 11 million masks. They then placed a deposit on one of the accounts of the scammers, and the money was quickly transferred afterwards to another account.
The two men searched by the FIOD
The FIOD quickly caught on their trails and raided two locations, a business premise in Oldenzaal and a house in Amersfoort, the two known locations of the suspects. The men arrested are 51 and 61 years old (never too old to pull a scam).
Inside of the two locations, the FIOD seized relevant documents, including bank accounts, telephone numbers and digital administration. For now, the charges against the two men include money laundering, fraud and forgery.
According to the FIOD, the investigation is ongoing and it maybe possible that further arrests are made if more potential accomplices are found.
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