While train prices are increasingly high, in particular because of inflation, the SNCF regularly offers its customers certain reductions, but also good deals for traveling without breaking the bank. Unfortunately, these initiatives have inspired some scammers. Indeed, according to information published by BFMTV on Friday May 3, 2024, a new scam, linked to the Advantage card marketed by the French railway company, is currently spreading at high speed. This famous scam primarily targets fans of good deals and discounts. Concretely, the SNCF Advantage card is sold, outside of the promotional period, at a price of 49 euros. The latter allows you to benefit from reductions on train tickets, but also on certain on-board services. Finally, the SNCF Advantage card allows its holders to obtain capped prices on certain destinations, with minimum reductions guaranteed on almost all trains.
SNCF never requests personal data from its customers by email or SMS
The new scam linked to this famous card is presented to potential victims in the form of an email or SMS. The scammers actually promise a big drop in the price of the Advantage card, given that this goes from 49 euros to only 2.45 euros. A discount that is far too significant since the SNCF never offers more than 50% reduction on its Avantage card. In addition, the French railway company always organizes a major advertising campaign when it implements such a reduction. Having been able to consult certain fraudulent emails sent by the people behind this scam, BFMTV revealed how to recognize this scam. In fact, you need to check the email address behind this fake promotion. The real emails associated with the Avantage card, but also with train tickets, end with @info.sncf.com. On the other hand, the fraudulent email ends with @sncf-carte-avants.com. The aim of this scam is to recover the victims’ banking data, in order to populate a database used by other scammers. Questioned by BFMTV on this subject, SNCF recalled that it never requests the personal data of its customers by email or SMS.