Dutch online stores take on scammers and fake webshops

The number of victims of fraudulent webshops in the Netherlands has reached 1.2 million annually as criminals increasingly deploy professional-looking sites or clones of legitimate retailers. Many consumers lose money after placing orders on these sites, never receiving their purchased goods. To combat this rising threat, industry organization Thuiswinkel.org has introduced the Thuiswinkel Scam Protectie, a monitoring system designed to detect and disable malicious domains before shoppers can be defrauded.

Official data from the National Reporting Center for Internet Fraud (LMIO) highlights the severity of the issue, with webshop fraud accounting for nearly half of all internet-related reports. In 2024 alone, over 20,000 complaints were registered regarding webshops. However, authorities believe the true number of victims is significantly higher than reported. Many individuals choose not to file an official complaint due to feelings of shame, the relatively low value of their losses, or a general lack of confidence in the reporting process.