Dutch Police Bust New Bank Fraud Using Super Intelligence Voice Calls and a Phone App: About 170 Victims Lost Some €380,000 in Three Weeks
Dutch police announced on October 21 that the Rotterdam police cybercrime team had uncovered a new form of bank helpdesk fraud: scammers used voice recordings generated with super intelligence (SI) to impersonate banks, tricking victims into downloading an app and holding their bank card against their phone, whereupon the app relayed the card's near-field communication (NFC) chip data to an accomplice waiting at a cash machine to withdraw money. By tracking the group's servers, police registered about 170 victims in roughly three weeks, with combined losses of about €380,000.
In mid-September, Dutch banks reported the new method through the Electronic Crimes Task Force, where banks, police and the Public Prosecution Service work together. Victims first received an automated recording saying there was suspicious activity on their bank account and asking them to press 1 if it was unfamiliar; the group had prepared dozens of audio fragments with different voices, banks and scenarios. A live caller posing as a bank employee then took over, said the card had been blocked, and told the victim to download an app and hold the card against the back of the phone to scan it. Cybersecurity company ESET says such malicious apps are of the same kind as NGate, which it disclosed in 2024, and can forward chip data in real time to another device without the cardholder noticing.
The victims came from across the Netherlands and were of all ages, with dozens in their twenties and thirties. On October 6, police arrested two men: a 23-year-old from Vaassen in Gelderland, suspected of developing the technology and directing the group, and a 25-year-old from Ede, suspected of a coordinating role. Police seized and took offline the group's servers and confiscated their phones and laptops. On October 20, a Rotterdam court ordered both men to remain in custody for a further 90 days while awaiting trial. Neither has been convicted.
Police stress that banks never ask customers to install an app, hold a bank card against a phone or disclose a PIN. The case is led by the Public Prosecution Service and the investigation continues; police say the victim count and the damage figure may still change.
Source: Dutch Police
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：荷兰银行卡与非接触支付标志（资料图）。摄影：Marco Sweering／ING Nederland，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A Dutch debit card with the contactless payment logo (file photo). By Marco Sweering / ING Nederland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
