The Netherlands' routes in 2026: file an aangifte (criminal report) with the politie at politie.nl or 0900-8844, and call 112 in an emergency — that aangifte is often a precondition for any bank reimbursement; report and get advice from the Fraudehelpdesk (fraudehelpdesk.nl, +31 88 786 7372); check and report investment fraud to the AFM; get consumer help from ConsuWijzer (ACM); escalate a bank's refusal to Kifid; and get free support from Slachtofferhulp Nederland on 0900-0101. Crucially, under the EU Payment Services Directive an unauthorised payment must be refunded — and uniquely in Europe, Dutch banks also voluntarily reimburse victims of bank-impersonation ("spoofing") fraud under a sector scheme. That scheme covers spoofing specifically, not every scam, so most deception transfers outside it are still not refundable.
If you have been scammed in the Netherlands, two things matter most in the first 24 hours: stopping any further loss and creating a record while the evidence still exists. The Dutch system rewards that second step more than most — because filing the police report (aangifte) is often what makes a bank reimbursement possible at all. The order below is built to be the fastest path through it.
If you are reading this with a transaction you already regret, skip to if money has already moved. A same-day bank recall — and a clear spoofing claim — is sometimes the only thing that works.
The hard truth — with one real exception: the Netherlands refunds some cons
This matters most, because it sets your expectations correctly before you spend a week chasing the wrong outcome.
Dutch law starts from the same EU baseline as the rest of the bloc, through the Payment Services Directive. If a payment was unauthorised — someone used your card or got into your account without permission — your bank must refund it, and your liability is generally capped at €50. If you authorised the payment yourself under deception, that is legally a valid instruction, and the EU refund right does not apply.
Here is where the Netherlands diverges from almost everyone. Dutch banks run a voluntary sector scheme that reimburses victims of bank-impersonation ("spoofing") fraud — the scam where the number on your screen is your bank's real number and a fake "fraud officer" walks you into moving money to a "safe account." Around 89% of the roughly €51 million lost to spoofing in 2022 was repaid, according to figures from the Dutch banking sector, and that scheme — alongside dispute rulings that made reimbursement easier — helped push spoofing losses down about 30% in 2024.
Start with the politie — and the aangifte is what unlocks reimbursement
This is the detail that catches people out elsewhere but matters doubly in the Netherlands: the formal police report is not just a criminal-justice step, it is often the document your bank needs before it will reimburse you.
The full Dutch reporting directory, by scam type
Different scams route to different specialists. Using the right one matters more than reporting to all of them.
If money has already moved — the first 24 hours
Speed is the whole game — and in the Netherlands, so is naming the scam correctly, because a spoofing case has a reimbursement route most other scams do not. This is the maximum-recovery order:
The Dutch numbers — a rare good-news story with an asterisk
The Netherlands has unusually good fraud data, and the picture for 2024 is genuinely mixed — improvement where the banks intervened, worsening almost everywhere else. The headline figures, all from named sources:
The habits that keep you out of the reporting machinery entirely
Reporting is downstream. Prevention is upstream, and three habits stop most Dutch scams cold:
If you are unsure whether something is a scam before any money moves, the fastest second opinion is the Scam Checker on this site, or our free case review. Both are read by a human and answered within 24 hours.
One rule, end to end
If you take one habit from this piece, take this: any unsolicited call, message, or "new number" text that pressures you to move money or approve a payment is a scam until you have verified it by contacting the institution or person back on a number you already trust. The Netherlands will reimburse you for one specific con — but the pause that stops the payment is still worth more than the scheme that refunds it.
In the Netherlands and not sure where to start? Let's look at it together.
Describe the message, the call, the transaction. A real expert reviews every case and replies within 24 hours. Free, confidential, no pressure.
Common questions about reporting a scam in the Netherlands
Is there one place to report all scams in the Netherlands?
Not quite. The criminal report goes to the politie (police): file an aangifte online at politie.nl or by phone on 0900-8844, and call 112 in an emergency. Filing that aangifte matters more than in most countries, because it is often a precondition for any bank reimbursement. Alongside it, the Fraudehelpdesk (fraudehelpdesk.nl, +31 88 786 7372) is the national fraud advice-and-reporting hub, the AFM handles investment fraud, ConsuWijzer (ACM) advises consumers, and Slachtofferhulp Nederland offers free victim support. The practical order: call your bank, file the aangifte, then add the body that matches the scam.
Will my Dutch bank refund money I lost to a scam?
Sometimes — and the Netherlands is genuinely the exception in Europe here. Under the EU Payment Services Directive an unauthorised payment (someone used your card or account without permission) must be refunded, with your liability capped at €50. Money you authorised under deception is normally not refundable. But Dutch banks run a voluntary sector scheme that reimburses victims of bank-impersonation ('spoofing') fraud: around 89% of the roughly €51 million lost that way in 2022 was repaid, according to figures from the Dutch banking sector, and that scheme — plus dispute rulings — helped cut spoofing losses by about 30% in 2024. The catch: it covers spoofing specifically, not every scam, and you usually need to have filed an aangifte. Statistics Netherlands found only about 1% of all fraud-loss victims in 2024 got money back.
How do I report a fake webshop or phishing message in the Netherlands?
Report it to the Fraudehelpdesk (fraudehelpdesk.nl or +31 88 786 7372), which logs scams and advises victims, and tell your bank immediately if a message impersonated it. For a purchase that went wrong, ConsuWijzer — the consumer desk of the regulator ACM — explains your rights. If you lost money, also file an aangifte with the politie at politie.nl. WhatsApp 'friend-in-need' (vriend-in-nood) messages — 'Hi, it's me, I have a new number, can you pay this for me?' — are one of the most common Dutch scams, so verify any such request by calling the person on their old number.
How do I check whether an investment platform is legitimate in the Netherlands?
Use the AFM (Autoriteit Financiële Markten), the Dutch financial-markets regulator. Before sending money, check the AFM's warnings list and confirm the firm holds the licence it needs to offer investments in the Netherlands. The AFM cannot recover your money, but its warnings are how a large share of fake-broker, cloned-firm and bogus crypto operations get flagged publicly — and the AFM reported a sharp rise in fraud reports through 2024. Reports about a bank or insurer's conduct can also go to De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).
Where can a scam victim get free human help in the Netherlands?
Call Slachtofferhulp Nederland (Victim Support Netherlands) on 0900-0101 — a free, independent service offering practical, legal and emotional support to victims of crime, including fraud. The Fraudehelpdesk also gives free advice on what to do next. If your bank refuses a financial complaint you believe is valid, you can escalate to Kifid, the financial-services complaints board, at no cost. None of these will ever charge an upfront fee to 'recover' your money — anyone who does is running the second scam.
Sources & further reading
Every figure in this piece is drawn from these authorities. Click any of them to verify.