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NOPE
Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

Dutch police say a bank-helpdesk fraud network used AI-made voice messages in calls; about 170 victims lost about 380,000 euros

The Dutch police reported on 21 October 2026 that the Rotterdam Team Cybercrime had stopped a network behind a new form of bank-helpdesk fraud. According to the police, the fraudsters had used artificial intelligence to make dozens of audio fragments with different voices, banks, companies and scenarios. Victims were called and heard a fragment warning of suspicious activity on their account; pressing 1 put them through to a fake bank employee, who had them install an app and hold their bank card to their phone, after which an accomplice withdrew money at a cash machine. In the three weeks the team could see the network's servers, the police counted about 170 victims of all ages and about 380,000 euros in losses. Two suspects were arrested on 6 October 2026 and a Rotterdam court extended their detention by at least 90 days on 20 October.

AI system
Unidentified voice-generation tool
Occurred
Sept 2026
Reported
21 October 2026
Event location
Netherlands
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Financial Loss
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Finance · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
5 claims: 5 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: Artificial intelligence that, according to the Dutch police, the fraudsters used to make dozens of recorded voice fragments with different voices, banks, companies and scenarios, played to victims in automated calls (tool not identified)

What Happened

The police account. In a release published on 21 October 2026, the Dutch police said that from mid-September Dutch banks had reported victims of a new form of bank-helpdesk fraud to the Electronic Crimes Task Force, and that the Rotterdam Team Cybercrime then gained sight of the servers of the criminal network behind it.

The AI-made calls. According to the police, the fraudsters had made dozens of audio fragments with artificial intelligence, using different voices, banks, companies and scenarios. Victims were called and heard such a fragment, which pointed them, for example, to suspicious activity on their bank account and asked them to press 1 if they were not responsible for it. After hold music a so-called bank employee came on the line and, following a fixed script, pressed them to block their card quickly by downloading an app and holding the card against their phone. The app relayed the card's contactless-payment chip data to an accomplice waiting at a cash machine, who withdrew thousands of euros without the victims noticing.

Scale. In the roughly three weeks the team could see the servers, the police saw about 170 victims and about 380,000 euros in losses. The police say victims were of all ages and came from all over the Netherlands, including dozens of people in their twenties and thirties.

What is not known. The release does not say how the police established that the fragments were AI-made or which tool was used, how much any single victim lost, or whether banks reimbursed victims.

Reported harm

According to the Dutch police, about 170 people lost about 380,000 euros in total after calls that opened with AI-made voice messages put them through to fake bank staff who had them scan their bank cards with a fraudulent app.

Outcome

Ongoing

The police arrested two suspects on 6 October 2026, one suspected of being the technical organiser and one of a coordinating role. The police had the servers used for the fraud taken offline and seized the suspects' phones and laptops. On 20 October 2026 the council chamber of the Rotterdam court ordered them held for at least 90 more days pending trial. Whether victims were reimbursed is not reported.

What remains unknown

  • How the police established that the voice fragments were made with AI, and which tool was used.
  • How much individual victims lost and whether banks reimbursed them.
  • When the first victims were called; the release says only that banks reported victims from mid-September 2026.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The investigating Dutch police, who had sight of the fraud network's servers, say the fraudsters made dozens of audio fragments with artificial intelligence, using different voices, banks, companies and scenarios. Victims heard such a recorded AI-made voice when called: it warned of suspicious activity on their account and asked them to press 1, which put them through to a fake bank employee who had them scan their card with a fraudulent app, after which money was withdrawn. The AI-made voice message was the opening step of the deception that led to the losses. The police do not disclose how they established the AI use or name a tool.

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The Dutch police say the fraudsters used artificial intelligence to make dozens of audio fragments with different voices, banks, companies and scenarios, which victims heard when called.

Causal attribution. The investigating police, who had sight of the network's servers, attribute the voice fragments to AI; they do not disclose how they established this or name a tool.

  • politie.nl(opens in new tab) supports · Dutch
    Slachtoffers werden gebeld op hun telefoon en kregen een geluidsfragment te horen. De oplichters hadden met Artificial Intelligence tientallen verschillende geluidsfragmenten gemaakt met verschillende stemmen, banken, bedrijven en scenario's.
  • rijnmond.nl(opens in new tab) supports · Dutch
    Met kunstmatige intelligentie (AI) hadden de criminelen tientallen verschillende geluidsfragmenten gemaakt, met verschillende stemmen en namen van banken en bedrijven.
Reported According to the police, the voice warned of suspicious account activity and asked victims to press 1, after which a fake bank employee pressed them to download an app and hold their bank card against their phone.

Causal attribution. The AI-made message opened each call and routed victims to the human caller, according to the police.

  • politie.nl(opens in new tab) supports · Dutch
    De stem wees hen bijvoorbeeld op verdachte activiteit op hun bankrekening en vroeg het slachtoffer om op '1' te drukken als hij/zij niet zelf verantwoordelijk was voor die verdachte activiteit. ... Dan kregen slachtoffers een wachtmuziekje te horen om vervolgens een zogenaamde bankmedewerker aan de lijn te krijgen. ... Slachtoffers moesten daarvoor een app downloaden en hun bankpas scannen door die tegen hun telefoon te houden.
Reported According to the police, the app relayed the card's contactless chip data to an accomplice at a cash machine, who withdrew thousands of euros without the victims noticing.

Causal attribution. The losses followed from the app and the withdrawals; the AI message was the first step of the call.

  • politie.nl(opens in new tab) supports · Dutch
    Daardoor konden de daders via de net geïnstalleerde app de gegevens van de NFC-chip van de bankpas tijdelijk doorsturen naar een app van de pinner: de chip waarmee je contactloos kunt betalen. Een pinner met dezelfde app stond tegelijkertijd klaar bij een geld- of pinautomaat. Zonder dat slachtoffers het doorhadden, werden duizenden euro’s gepind.
Reported In the roughly three weeks the team could see the servers, the police saw about 170 victims and about 380,000 euros in losses, among people of all ages from all over the Netherlands.

Causal attribution. Police figures; approximate.

  • politie.nl(opens in new tab) supports · Dutch
    380.000 euro schade bij zo'n 170 slachtoffers. Dat waren de cijfers waarmee het Rotterdamse Team Cybercrime werd geconfronteerd in de drie weken die het onderzoeksteam zicht had op de servers van een crimineel samenwerkingsverband.
  • rijnmond.nl(opens in new tab) supports · Dutch
    Slachtoffers waren van alle leeftijden en kwamen uit alle hoeken van Nederland.
Reported The police arrested two suspects on 6 October 2026, had the servers taken offline, and on 20 October the Rotterdam court's council chamber extended their detention by at least 90 days.

Causal attribution. Procedural outcome as reported by the police; the arrest and detention dates are in the same release.

  • politie.nl(opens in new tab) supports · Dutch
    Op 6 oktober heeft de politie twee verdachten aangehouden in dit onderzoek. ... De politie heeft de servers waarmee deze fraude mogelijk werd gemaakt offline laten halen. ... De raadkamer van de Rotterdamse rechtbank heeft dinsdag 20 oktober besloten dat zij in ieder geval 90 dagen langer vast blijven zitten, in afwachting van de zitting in hun zaak.

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Dutch by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-22 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Dutch police release, published 21 Oct 2026; politie.nl returned HTTP 403 to direct requests, so the text was read from a Wayback Machine capture made on 22 Oct 2026. Applies to s1.

Read in Dutch by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-22 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Rijnmond regional broadcaster report of 21 Oct 2026, HTTP 200; it follows the police release and quotes the same investigator, so it shares the release's independence group. Applies to s2.

Event countries: Netherlands. Affected-person countries: Netherlands. Court countries: Netherlands.

The police release says victims came from all over the Netherlands and that Dutch banks reported them; the cash withdrawals and the investigation were Dutch, and the Rotterdam court's council chamber ordered the suspects' continued detention.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-22: Published as a core case (communicated_with): the investigating Dutch police say the callers played victims dozens of AI-made voice fragments posing as banks and companies, which routed them to fake bank staff and led to about 380,000 euros in losses among about 170 people. The technical basis of the police attribution is undisclosed. No suspect or victim is named.

People described

About 170 people of all ages across the Netherlands who, according to the police, were called with AI-made voice messages, put through to a fake bank employee and robbed through a card-scanning app

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

The police give about 170 victims ('zo'n 170 slachtoffers'; elsewhere in the same release '170 slachtoffers') seen in the roughly three weeks of server visibility. Because the figure is given as an approximation, it is recorded here and not entered as a documented minimum; zero placeholders are used. The victims did not themselves use the AI tool.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#ai_generated_voice#bank_impersonation#phone_fraud#police_arrest#netherlands

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Dutch police say a bank-helpdesk fraud network used AI-made voice messages in calls; about 170 victims lost about 380,000 euros. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-netherlands-police-say-bank-helpdesk-fraud-network-used-ai-made-voice-messages-in-calls-about-170-victims

BibTeX

@misc{2026_netherlands_police_say_bank_helpdesk_fraud_network_used_ai_made_voice_messages_in_calls_about_170_victims,
  title = {Dutch police say a bank-helpdesk fraud network used AI-made voice messages in calls; about 170 victims lost about 380,000 euros},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-netherlands-police-say-bank-helpdesk-fraud-network-used-ai-made-voice-messages-in-calls-about-170-victims}
}

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