- Dutch police arrest two suspects in scam using fake EURC payments to steal Rolex watches.
- The probe began after August 2025 reports of Rolex sellers being scammed on Marktplaats.
- A token’s name and appearance aren’t enough to establish that it’s authentic.
Dutch police have arrested two men in the Netherlands over an alleged crypto scam in which Rolex sellers were tricked into giving up their watches after being shown what looked like payments in EURC (an euro-backed stablecoin). The authorities said the tokens were fake and weren’t worth anything.
The official arrest happened on September 9, when police in the eastern Netherlands arrested two men, a 24-year-old from Geleen and a 45-year-old from Leiden.
The investigation dates back a year, when several Rolex sellers said they were scammed on the Dutch marketplace Marktplaats in August 2025. Police say the buyers agreed to pay in EURC but sent fake tokens made to look like the real asset instead.
In one case, a man from Almelo selling a Rolex met a buyer who seemed to send the crypto they’d agreed on. Seeing the payment come through, the seller gave him the watch, but it was only later, when he tried to cash the crypto out for euros, that he found out the tokens were worthless.
The investigation is still underway, and the police said that when they searched the 24-year-old suspect’s home, they also found guns and drugs. Investigators are going through seized data and looking into whether the suspects might be tied to other crypto scams as well.
Balance Notifications Aren’t Enough for Verification
This case points to a particular weakness in crypto payments: a token’s name and appearance aren’t enough to establish its authenticity.
The real EURC from Circle is a fully backed euro stablecoin, available on several blockchains like Ethereum, Base, Avalanche, Solana, and Stellar. Each legitimate deployment of the token has its own specific setup, meaning users need to verify the actual asset and network rather than simply seeing “EURC” displayed in a wallet.
That difference has become increasingly important as stablecoins show up on more networks. This month, Circle said its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol now supports native EURC transfers, starting with Ethereum and Base. It works by burning and minting tokens rather than relying on random third-party versions of the asset.
For merchants (and users) who take crypto directly, this Dutch case shows why seeing a balance or a payment notification isn’t the same as getting paid. Sellers need to check the transaction on the correct blockchain and make sure the token is the real one from the issuer before handing over anything valuable.
Related: US, UK Join Forces to Crack Down on Global Crypto Scam Centers
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