Dutch government launches digital fraud campaign

Content Team October 25, 2023

The Dutch government is launching a national campaign to combat digital fraud with a particular focus on online gambling.

The digital resilience campaign was announced by Franc Weerwind, the Netherlands’ minister for legal protection. The multi-year project is a means to address fraud in online gambling.

Objectives

The campaign aims to help young people recognise scams and offers that seem too good to be true, this is particularly prevalent in social media-related fraud.

Concerns have been raised by parliamentarians over match-fixing via social media, with allegations that certain platform influencers were defrauding people by promoting fake sports results.

Weerwind expressed a particular issue with these fraudsters targeting vulnerable individuals, referring to the young more specifically, however, he was keen to clarify that there had been no evidence found of these perpetrators involving themselves in match-fixing.

He also emphasised the highly negative factor of influencers advertising risky games of chance to their young audiences., stating that gambling companies should be prohibited from using role models that appeal to younger people to advertise products.

Remote Gaming Act

Weerwind was careful not to pass judgment on the claim that the legalisation of online gambling has created or expanded the existing social problems.

He also makes sure to express that he does not wish to pre-judge a scheduled review into the impact of the Remote Gaming Act, expected in 2024.

Proposed preventative measures

The Dutch government is planning to submit new rules for addiction prevention in early 2024 and acknowledges flaws in the current system.

KSA< the Dutch gambling regulatory body, is working on increasing awareness of the self-exclusion service, Cruks.

This word is being spread throughout multiple target groups and the KSA is implementing programs to address problematic gambling behaviour among young adults, including initiatives in schools from 2024.

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