Three people arrested on suspicion of scams are thought to have conned victims out of at least €500,000, reports NOS on Friday.

Two suspects, aged 47 and 48 and living in Spain, were arrested at a hotel in Huizen, in the province of Noord Holland. A third suspect, a man of 73, was arrested in Almelo.

Their victims allegedly included nine people who tried to get mortgages through a website they had founded, only to lose deposits worth €165,000. Others thought they were applying for loans, made down payments, and were apparently conned out of €26,000.

Yet more victims thought they were selling vehicles to the swindlers, but received no money and had their vehicles sold on before they could retrieve them, reports NOS.

The three suspects are thought to have been active since 2013, going into hiding abroad and using different front companies, until they were traced and confronted last year in Spain by the television programme Opgelicht?!

NOS broadcaster reports that police are still examining victim reports, but that one of the suspects has already had a Porsche seized.