The show Correspondent on France 2 unveils a hard-hitting investigation into scams involving fake bank advisors.
The phone is ringing. At the end of the line, a voice presents itself as your bank’s anti-fraud department, alerting you to suspicious transactions on your account. But be careful, it could be a scam. In an in-depth investigation into scams involving fake bank advisors, a scourge which cost the French 340 million euros, obviously not vigilant enough, in 2022, journalist Julien Duponchel infiltrated one of these networks and discovered their methods.
The infiltration
To understand how these scams work, Julien Duponchel created a false profile of an ideal victim: Mr. Martin, with a fictitious credit card and identity. He then introduced this profile into conversations on encrypted messaging. Five minutes later, a first scammer, calling himself Mr. Muller, from the fraud security department, took the bait (without knowing that he was registered). He claimed to alert the fake Mr. Martin of suspicious transactions on his account – obviously false: he wanted to scare him in order to extract money from him.
Despite the distrust displayed by the fake Mr. Martin, Mr. Muller continued to deliver his rehearsed speech.
Confessions of a scammer
One of the allocators, members of the network of scammers responsible for telephone calls, agreed to speak with the journalist after trying to scam him. He claims to earn more than 3,000 euros per week thanks to his scams. Barely 17 years old, his burst of laughter betrayed his unawareness of the issues involved.
His confession, for its part, is much more pragmatic. He explains spending the stolen money on luxury items and “ vacation in the South or in Dubai. Without any remorse, he explains that he sees no point in “ work legally for 1,800 euros net per month » when it could be done « more than 3,000 euros per week “.
“ I earn more than 3,000 euros per week. (…) Currently, the police have no proof that it is me who makes the payments », he explains.
During these exchanges, other scammers attempted to carry out online transactions with Mr. Martin’s fictitious credit card. In one hour, around thirty transactions, for a total amount of 3,000 euros, were attempted and blocked on time.
Source : France Info
4