The US Justice Department and Dutch Authorities have announced enforcement against an international scam mail scheme targeting the elderly and vulnerable.
Six Dutch companies and their directors who are suspected of facilitating the international fraud are being investigated. The Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Division (FIOD) searched a number of locations in a criminal investigation involving up to 6 different companies. These companies operate mailboxes in the Netherlands and have been suspected of defrauding hundreds of thousands of people worldwide by the way of false letters.
It is estimated the total number of the fraud runs into the millions. The U.S Department of Justice filed a civil complaint against 2 of the suspected companies and one director in the Netherlands, on behalf of hundreds of thousands of victims. The main suspects of the fraud are presumably not living in the Netherlands.
Reduction in scam mail being sent to the UK
This investigation has a huge impact on the United Kingdom as many of these letters where circulated throughout Great Britain as well as Switzerland, Italy, France Japan and many more countries.
The recipients of these scams where led to believe that they were guaranteed winners for the lottery, in order to be able to transfer the amount to the recipient they were asked to send a payment of between 20-45 Euros or a cheque posted to the mailbox in the Netherlands.
Read more on the FIOD and U.S DOJ website.
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To report a fraud and receive a police crime reference number, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use our online fraud reporting tool.