Four defendants who defrauded Prince Laurent (pictured left), King Filip’s brother, and Princess Claire, his wife, of 17,000 euros have been sentenced to prison terms of up to one year. The couple, who live in leafy Tervuren (Flemish Brabant), clicked on a link in a fake text message in 2021.
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Prison sentences of up to one year for fraudsters who conned Prince Laurent and Princess Claire
Colin Clapson
Published:
On 23 December 2021, Princess Claire received a message on her mobile phone purporting to be from Cardstop. Card Stop is the central 24/7 service in Belgium used to immediately block lost, stolen, swallowed, or compromised payment methods. The text stated that she needed to block her bank card. She had lost her card a few days earlier and didn’t suspect anything. She clicked on the link and entered her personal details on a fake website.
When Princess Claire became suspicious, she closed the website, but a few days later she realised she could no longer make any payments. Her bank confirmed that she had been the victim of phishing. A total of 17,776 euros was withdrawn from Prince Laurent and Princess Claire’s accounts. The account into which the prince receives his allowance was also affected.
Identity of fraudsters still a mystery
Almost five years later, the public prosecutor’s office has not managed to map out the fraudsters’ entire network. However, four so-called ‘money mules’ were tracked down. They had made their accounts available to the fraudsters to channel the money and were due to appear in court today.
One of the money mules will not face any punishment. The other three were given suspended prison sentences of between six and twelve months. Together, they must also repay 10,765.75 euros.
'Fake'
The investigators were also able to establish that the fraudulent message had been sent by a woman from Antwerp, but she pleaded not guilty.
Her lawyer, Walter Damen, argued that the woman’s telephone number had been spoofed. This is a technique used by fraudsters to display a false number with a message, in order to impersonate someone else. The woman was acquitted.