Elderly woman dies after distraction scam and assault

On 13 August 2025 eighty-year-old Irene Winkel fell victim to fraudsters posing as police officers. Twenty-three-year-old Benjamin H. called to tell her she was on a burglars' list and that a "colleague" would come round to check her locks, asking her to lay out her jewellery in advance. Shortly afterwards twenty-one-year-old Oussama El G. used that pretext to enter her flat on Wittgensteinlaan in Slotervaart. By his own account he struck Winkel on the head, after which she fell and died; he took jewellery and fled. She was found in her flat later that day after acquaintances raised the alarm when she failed to turn up for an appointment. It is the first time in the Netherlands that such a confidence trick has ended in death. Prosecutors are pursuing three men. El G. is being prosecuted for aggravated manslaughter, theft and fraud; because H. never entered the flat, he faces charges of fraud and robbery resulting in death. The suspects are also being prosecuted over a separate fraud in Haarlem. Two of the three are now at liberty, one of them wearing an ankle monitor; only the man who allegedly struck the fatal blow remains in custody. The investigation is still examining the precise cause of death and how much force was used.