Police seek woman who paid in Utrecht shops with stolen bank details

Police are looking for a woman who paid at three supermarkets in Utrecht, including on the Potterstraat and Biltstraat, with the stolen bank details of a 42-year-old woman from Berkel-Enschot. Officers showed footage of her in the investigation programme Bureau Brabant.

The victim received a text message on Friday 3 April that appeared to come from a parcel courier. It said her package could not be delivered and asked her to check her details via a link. She was expecting a parcel, so she clicked and entered her address and bank details on the page that opened. The message came from criminals, and her details ended up with them.

This type of fraud is called smishing: phishing by text message. Police say the message looks trustworthy, for example coming from a bank or parcel courier, and details entered via the link can go straight to criminals.

Two days later, on Sunday 5 April, the victim's bank account was linked to an unknown phone, a digital wallet. The phone was used to pay in Utrecht. Within a short time, payments were made at three different supermarkets. The bank flagged the payments as suspicious, intervened and ultimately blocked the account.

The wanted woman has long black hair. She wore a cap, a beige or khaki jacket, jeans and a black shoulder bag.

Police are asking anyone who recognises her to come forward. They also want to hear from people who know who she was with in that period and how she obtained the bank details.