A 55-year-old man from The Hague has been convicted of defrauding eight people via Facebook. He received money for items he never delivered. The total damage amounted to €484.
The man admitted that he used the money to feed his gambling addiction. According to the Public Prosecution Service, he acted deliberately and repeatedly. This undermines confidence in online commerce, according to the public prosecutor.
He had done this before and was convicted for it
This was not the first time the suspect had appeared in court. He already had a criminal record for similar practices. Despite previous warnings, he reverted to the same behaviour, according to Omroep West.
He said he wanted to use the money to pay off his gambling debts. The judge sentenced him to four months in prison, part of which was suspended. Because he was already in pre-trial detention, he was released the same day.
The police arrested him with slight coercion
The suspect claimed that he was injured during his arrest. He said that the police dislocated his collarbones. The officers denied this and said they had given him a slight push after he verbally abused them.
The Public Prosecution Service considered the police action to be proportionate and saw no reason to reduce the sentence.
He must now also repay his victims
In addition to the prison sentence, he was given 84 hours of community service. He must also repay the money to his victims. Furthermore, he must seek counselling for his gambling problem.
The judge pointed out that the problem is not only fraud, but above all his addiction. The risk of recurrence remains high if this is not addressed.
Other cases show that this happens more often.
Things also went wrong in Heerenveen. A 48-year-old man ended up in prison for fraud involving concert tickets. He used the proceeds for gambling.
In Leidschendam, a 20-year-old did the same. He also sold fake tickets via social media. Despite his actions, the judge gave him one more chance.
Gambling addiction drives people to despair
Gambling addiction often leads to fraud. For example, a firefighter even used emergency funds intended for emergency services to finance his addiction. This recently came to light.
The WODC has observed a worrying increase in addiction among young people and adults, particularly in online casinos. This has been confirmed in a recent WODC study.
Prevention remains necessary, but is often too late
Many gamblers only seek help when it is too late. Family members only notice that something is wrong at a late stage. There are organisations that help people to stop.