AI phone calls helped a gang drain $423,114 from bank customers

Police in the Netherlands have arrested two men over a bank scam that used AI-generated phone calls. In just three weeks, about 170 victims lost roughly €380,000, or about $423,114. The calls sounded like a bank warning. The goal was to get people to let their own card be copied.

What happened

Victims got a recorded call warning of suspicious activity on their bank account. Police say the scammers used AI to make dozens of recordings with different voices, banks, companies and scenarios. Anyone who pressed 1 was connected to a fake bank employee who followed a script and pushed them to hurry and block their card.

Then came the key step. Victims were told to download an app and hold their bank card against their phone. Police say the app sent data from the card's contactless chip to an app used by an accomplice waiting at an ATM or payment terminal. That person could withdraw thousands of euros without the victim knowing.

Who it affects

Victims came from all over the Netherlands and from many age groups. Dozens were in their twenties and thirties, so this was not only a scam aimed at older people. The case is Dutch, but the same trick could be tried in other countries.

Who can relax a little? Anyone who simply hangs up. The scheme, as police describe it, only worked if the victim followed the caller's instructions and installed the app. It is not clear from the report whether any similar calls have turned up outside the Netherlands.

What police say

Ruben van Well of the Rotterdam cybercrime team said, in remarks translated from Dutch, that this is no longer a scammer at the door but a convincing caller who comes across as incredibly professional. He added that police had not seen this technical method before. His advice is plain: your bank will never ask you to download an app, hold your card against your phone or give your PIN code.

The steps in the alert box above cover what to do if a call like this reaches you.

What happens next

The two suspects are a 23-year-old from Vaassen and a 25-year-old from Ede. They were arrested on October 6th. Police say the younger man is suspected of building the technology and directing others, and the older man of coordinating the operation. Police have taken the servers offline and seized the suspects' phones and laptops.

A Rotterdam court ruled on October 20th that both men must stay in custody for at least another 90 days while the case moves forward. The investigation began in mid-September, when Dutch banks flagged the new method through the Electronic Crimes Task Force, a partnership of banks, police and prosecutors. The report does not say whether others in the group have been identified or whether any money has been recovered.