The challenge
Online criminals are becoming ever more convincing, with professional websites, realistic messages and AI. At the same time, many Dutch people have great confidence in their own digital skills. They know social engineering exists, but mostly think it’s other people who fall for it.
The brief
Within the campaign ‘Laat je niet interneppen’ (Don’t get scammed online), the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security asked HAGENS for a new PR flight around social engineering. The assignment: don’t tell people they are vulnerable, let them experience it themselves. With a clear course of action, because doubt is not a weakness, but your best protection.
The strategy
Proof instead of a message
We have learned to trust good reviews, a professional website or a familiar voice. Criminals use exactly that trust against us. So we put Dutch people in a situation where they had to decide for themselves what was real and what was fake. Not out of fear, but out of awareness.
The creation
A deepfake of Victor Mids
Together with ethical hacker Yusuf Onay (DVID.), we developed representative research, carried out by Verian. Participants were shown real and fake emails, text messages, WhatsApp messages, websites and social posts. The most striking part: a deepfake video of illusionist Victor Mids. Half of the participants didn’t realise it was fake.
The approach
The results made the problem visible: 9 in 10 Dutch people don’t always recognise online fraud, and 4 in 10 overestimate themselves. Notably, Dutch people under 34 click on fraudulent links faster than people over 55. That insight became the basis for editorial partnerships with youth platforms SPIL and MAN MAN: a street interview and an expert video with the police, which together were viewed more than 147,000 times on SPIL.
The impact
Nobody could miss it
On launch day, 27 November 2025, there was coverage early in the morning on BNR Nieuwsradio, Radio Veronica, Qmusic and the NOS news bulletins. The results appeared in De Telegraaf, AD, NRC, NU.nl and Het Financieele Dagblad, among others. On Editie NL and RTL Tonight, Victor Mids explained the deepfake himself, and on Beau he acted as the campaign’s spokesperson. In one week: 166 publications, a reach of 21 million and a free publicity value of €1.9 million.
166
Publications
in one week
21 MLN
Reach
€1.9 MLN
Free publicity
