After a report from Marktplaats in July, a criminal investigation was launched by the Dutch police. Marktplaats.nl itself noticed that a large amount of phishing messages was sent via their systems to advertisers on their site.
Advertisers received an email in which they were supposedly asked by Marktplaats employees to validate their account. In reality, the emails served to obtain bank details from these people.
After the report to the Dutch police, the investigation started and partly due to good cooperation with Marktplaats, a first suspect could be identified. This suspect did not realize that his true identity had now been discovered and that the detectives were now fishing for him. From follow-up investigations, his co-defendant could also be identified. The two men, aged 17 and 21, from Utrecht were arrested on August 4 and 11 and then interrogated.
After being brought before the Judge Commissioner, their detention was extended by 14 days. It is not yet clear how many victims are involved in total. Victims and potential victims are still emerging from the systems under investigation. They will be informed by the police so that they can file a report. It is also not yet known how much loot is involved, per victim it concerns an amount of several hundred to several thousand euros.