Netherlands Plans to Punish Crypto Scammers With Up to 6 Years in Jail

The Netherlands is planning on bringing in harsher penalties for scams involving banking apps and cryptocurrencies.

Proposed new legislation from the country's Ministry of Justice and Security is aimed to align penalties for fraud utilizing these newer payment methods with those for crimes involving more traditional payments such as credit cards.

Card crime already has a maximum six-year jail term, while currently the penalty is from one-to-four years for apps and crypto, NL Times reports on Wednesday

Aside from cryptocurrency and payments apps, the report also lists bill-sharing apps like Tikkie as being subject to the planned bill, currently being worked on by Justice Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus. The legislation builds on the EU’s anti-money laundering directive, according to another report from NOS.

Grapperhaus reportedly said that fraud via these newer payments methods is increasingly commonplace and can target large numbers of people. The minister said he hopes bringing in tougher penalties would act as a deterrent.

The new sentencing regime will also apply to crimes such as falsifying payment data, owning or selling falsified data, credit card forgery and phishing schemes, said NL Times.