When Dutch police stormed the building in Marbella in March this year, they made a surprising discovery. The reason for the raid was a widespread suspected investment fraud that occurred in the so-called “boiler room”.
A bunch of men call up savers and provide high-return financial services. But everything is a scam. According to the police, 40 people lost about 60 million SEK.
What surprised the Dutch police the most were the documents containing lists of 2,500 Dutch people. Fraudsters have called the lists “sucker lists.” During the summer and fall, the Dutch Financial Supervisory Authority AFM contacted everyone on the list and warned them.
Collects information about vulnerable savers
The list is compiled by fraudsters who collect information about savers who have already been cheated or who have provided information on investment sites or by clicking on an advertisement for financial services on, for example, Facebook.
According to the AFM, listings are sold more expensively among organized crime networks. It’s easy to end up on the list. But it is difficult to write it off.
Professor Keith Brown, who heads a unit at Bournemouth University that researches financial fraud, estimates that in the UK alone, there are more than half a million people on the fraud list. According to Keith Brown, this type of fraud has a turnover of more than SEK 100 billion every year worldwide.
Thomas has been tricked into Örebro twice
On December 11th, SVT reported on retired Thomas Holmqvist in Örebro who had been duped by multiple scammers. During the fall, Thomas is contacted by other companies and people who all want to help him get his money back.
It now turns out that Thomas Holmqvist may have ended up on the so-called Sucker List, which is a record of potential crime victims.
– You mentioned this already. Otherwise how will those people who call me all the time know that I am a naive person. Various companies call me. Thomas Holmqvist says they have to collaborate in some way.
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