A 61-year-old man from Dordrecht has been arrested as part of an investigation into fraud involving claims for childcare benefit for children who don’t exist, finance ministry experts have confirmed.

The man is said to have requested the payments on behalf of “clients” for children who are not registered at daycare or after-school clubs.

Some 2,000 people, many of whom lived abroad, are involved in the scam, the Telegraaf said on Thursday evening. The NRC said in April this year that an investigation was underway.  

The first signs of organised fraud were spotted when both the police and the government’s IT provider Logius noted multiple applications for benefits from the same IP addresses, the inspectors said.

They told the Telegraaf they did not know how big the fraud is or how long the investigation will take.

In 2013, reports of a major benefits fraud involving a Bulgarian gang led to a tough new approach from the tax office which in turn created the childcare benefit scandal. Tens of thousands of people were wrongly accused of fraud and forced to pay back thousands of euros and the aftermath has not yet been properly dealt with. 

The fraud in 2013 cost the Dutch state €5.6 million and resulted in six people being jailed.