Many toy shops are trying to lure in customers ahead of the Sinterklaas celebrations with fake special offers on toys, the consumers’ association Consumentenbond said on Monday.

‘The toy offers from Blokker, Bol.com, Intertoys, ToysXL and Wehkamp are mainly fake,’ the association said, after comparing the prices of 75 popular toys at the beginning of this month and in July.

‘A Lego train offered by Intertoys at €114.99 rather than €124.99 might sound attractive but in the summer the same train cost €99 at Intertoys,’ the Consumentenbond said on its website.

‘The Lego coastguard helicopter was €17.99 from Wehkamp in the summer but the company is now acting as if the price has been slashed from €29.99 to €22.99.’

The organisation found 17 of 20 Intertoys offers were fake, as were seven out of 10 Bart Smit deals and eight out of 10 Blokker deals.

Department store V&D offered fewer discounts than the other chains but was the only outlet where all the special offers actually benefited the consumer.