OM demands three years in prison for leader in trade in personal data via Telegram

The Public Prosecution Service demands three years in prison for a 35-year-old man from Heerenveen who traded personal data for hundreds of thousands of euros via Telegram. He would have a quarter of a billion data on victims from the United States alone.

The lists of personal data traded by the suspect, also known as leads contain a variety of information, including phone numbers, email addresses, places of residence, income, and interests of victims. Such lists were according to the Public Prosecution Service sold by the suspect via chat service Telegram, where a list with ten thousand telephone numbers would have cost roughly 100 euros. Criminals buy these leads to commit further fraud, for example by sending victims text messages with links to fake websites.

“His only motive is monetary gain and who does what with the data he provides: he doesn’t seem to care. Elderly people who fall victim to bank help desk fraud, people who fall for WhatsApp fraud and lose a lot of money? It doesn’t bother him,” said the OM.

The suspect, who called himself ‘Han Solo’ and ‘jedihans’ online, is also facing a fine in addition to a possible prison sentence of three years, if the judge agrees with the Public Prosecution Service. The man would then also have to repay the amount of more than 318,000 euros earned from the leads. He would have been paid via Telegram in, among other things, gift cards for bol.com and with Bitcoin.

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