Dutch police have arrested eight people in connection with the VerifTools platform used to create fake identity documents

Dutch police arrested eight men on suspicion of identity fraud, forgery and cybercrime this week in connection with a multi-million-dollar fake ID platform that generated nearly a million forged documents for scammers worldwide.

The nationwide operation, carried out on April 7 and 8, targeted users of VerifTools, a now-shuttered website that allowed users to enter false personal data and generate fake identity documents, according to a Dutch National Police statement Friday.

“Images of documents purchased via the site are used by criminals for various forms of crime, including phishing and bank helpdesk fraud,” authorities said.

Nine additional suspects—seven men and two teenage girls—have been summoned to report to police. During searches, officers seized electronic devices, cash, cryptocurrency and weapons or items resembling them.

OCCRP previously reported that members of a scam operation used fake passports to dupe unsuspecting victims. Reporters found that those documents were generated by VerifTools.

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The arrests follow a joint operation in August 2025, when Dutch police and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation took the platform offline and seized its servers. At the time, U.S. authorities said the action was linked to a “conspiracy to use stolen identity information to access cryptocurrency accounts.”

Dutch police said data recovered from those servers revealed the scale of the operation. Authorities identified 915,655 fake documents generated from May 2023 to August 2025. Among them were 5,169 images of Dutch identity documents, including passports, driving licenses, and residence permits.

In its last year of operation, VerifTools generated an estimated turnover of more than 3 million euros ($3.52 million). Users paid almost $1.47 million for 236,002 U.S. identity documents between July 2024 and August 2025.

Police say those targeted in the latest operation range from “heavy users,” who generated large numbers of documents, to people who used the service only once. Some users, authorities noted, “have generated hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of documents.” Such offenses carry a maximum prison sentence of six years under Dutch law.

“Identity fraud is the basis for a whole host of other forms of crime,” said Frank van den Heuvel, head of the Rotterdam Department of the Aliens, Identification and Human Trafficking Police Unit.

“Organized crime therefore makes grateful use of such tools. The images of the fake documents are also used to evade simpler methods of ID checks — from routine street checks to the employment of large groups of undocumented workers.”

The investigation into users of VerifTools is ongoing.

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