Foreign fraud ring duped nine elderly Helsinki residents, courier arrested

During the last month of 2025, a foreign-based fraud network scammed nine elderly individuals in Helsinki, ages between eighty and ninety, by pretending to be bank representatives and extracting their internet banking credentials. The group employed a courier, who in two cases entered victims' homes, claimed their devices were infected, and seized phones and cards. Using the stolen data, he bought two iPhones in central Helsinki and immediately mailed them abroad.

In other incidents, he made rapid online purchases of high-value items, collected them from local stores, and handed them to a contact in a Helsinki restaurant for export. The courier was caught on 29 December 2025 when police stopped him attempting to retrieve valuables worth over ten thousand euros from a cash-handling business. Helsinki District Court convicted Jeremy de Ridder, born 1992, to two years in prison for multiple fraud and money-laundering offenses and ordered him to compensate victims over fifty-four thousand euros. His appeal to the Helsinki Court of Appeal was rejected.