Dutch police arrest two over NFC fraud targeting bank customers

Dutch police have arrested two men over a new bank-helpdesk fraud scheme that drained more than €380,000 from the accounts of about 170 victims. The suspects, a 23-year-old from Vaassen and a 25-year-old from Ede, were detained on 6 October. Investigators say the first suspect built the infrastructure and orchestrated the attacks, while the second coordinated the operation. Police seized the suspects’ servers, phones and laptops and both remain in custody during the investigation.

The fraud relied on AI-generated audio that impersonated banks and other entities, directing potential victims to press 1 if they disagreed with alleged suspicious activity and then placing them on hold. A caller impersonating a bank employee then claimed the victim’s debit card had been blocked and instructed them to download an app and scan the card by holding it to the phone. According to the Dutch authorities, the app extracted data from the card’s NFC chip used for contactless payments.

The data was sent to the fraudster, who stood by at an ATM to withdraw funds. The scheme affected victims of all ages, with the total loss reported by police as over €380,000 (about $425,600).