Amsterdam: Dutch prosecutors said on Thursday they had raided 10 locations in an investigation into a global, multimillion euro mail scam with hundreds of thousands of victims.
The national prosecutors’ office said in a statement that a joint US-Dutch investigation led to raids on Wednesday at six Netherlands-based companies. The contents of 300 mailboxes were seized.
Suspects sent millions of personalised letters to the US, Britain, Switzerland, Italy, France, Japan, among others, seeking payments.
Recipients were told they had won the lottery, but that in order to receive the prize they had to first send €20-45 (Dh82-185) to a mailbox in the Netherlands.
The Department of Justice filed a civil complaint against a Dutch citizen and the unnamed companies, the statement said.
During a series of raids, authorities found hundreds of thousands of fraudulent letters, half a million euros in cash, sports cars, art works and watches. Several bank accounts were also frozen.
