The “task force” to fight against scams recommends in particular to be particularly vigilant on social networks, which have become “essential platforms” for scams.
With the Covid-19 pandemic and the explosion in the use of digital tools, fraud and other scams have flourished on the Net. With sometimes dramatic consequences for consumers and cheated companies, “while the economic situation is deteriorating and the current price increase is having repercussions on the purchasing power of fellow citizens“Notes the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) in a press release published on Tuesday.
It is in this context that the national “task force” for the fight against scams, created by the State in April 2020 at the start of the health crisis, publishes a new guide to the prevention of scams, intended for the general public. Among them, there are unsurprisingly many online scams.
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“Very strong increase in identity theft”
In total, the “task force” – which brings together a number of organizations including the DGCCRF, the general direction of the national police (DGPN), the DGFIP or the CNIL – warns against 16 types of scams among the most common. It includes the now well-known “classic” scams, for example phishing (or phishing), theft of bank details, fake administrative sites, ransomware (or ransomware), online shopping and payment scams, or more fraudulent investments.
This year, there are new prevention sheets, “relating to the massive fraud techniques observed in recent months“, Underlines the press release from the DGCCRF. For example, bank check scams (538 million euros in fraud in 2020 according to the Observatory for the Security of Payment Means), general data protection regulation (GDPR) scams and the now famous (many ) CPF (Personal Training Account) scams. Transfer embezzlement (157 million euros in damage in 2020) is also part of this “hit parade”.
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“All of these illicit practices are based on a very strong increase in identity theft, for which a dedicated sheet helps victims by presenting them with the right reflexes and actions to take.“, specifies the DGCCRF. Other scams, which have developed on social networks thanks to the health crisis, are also in the sights of the authorities, such as dropshipping – a sale on the internet in which the seller is only responsible for marketing and the sale of the product -, a practice authorized provided certain obligations are met, or network marketing (or MLM, for “Multi Level Marketing”), for which sales networks with a pyramid structure are prohibited.
Dangerous social networks
In its 2022 guide, the anti-scam “task force” recommends being particularly vigilant on social networks. “They have become real “hypermarkets” for the sale of fraudulent products, promoting anonymity or identity theft, and more generally essential platforms for criminal activities, including scams.“, she alerts, noting moreover that there is present”a very young population, which can be seduced more easily, among other things, by promises of easy money“.
And the report cites a whole string of scams observed on these networks:Ponzi-type such as the proposal for professional “trading” training; offers of easy fake loans at an attractive rate, savings books, investment in “atypical” or “alternative” investments (forex, crypto-assets, Ehpad, parking, etc.).” The false “tipsto make money easily also abound on the networks, he continues, “such as the cashing of checks on behalf of others, or solicitations, manipulating the generosity of victims, to come to the emergency aid of someone or a community in distress“. Crooks could in the future seize new opportunities linked to current events, the “task-force” citing for example donation scams to help populations (in Ukraine, victims of natural disasters, etc.) .
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On Twitter, Bruno Le Maire recalled that any scam could be reported on the Signal Conso site. The Minister of the Economy also stressed that the government wanted to go further in the fight against these frauds. An article of the purchasing power bill is devoted to it. He aims to increase the prison sentence from two to three years “in the event of the commission of a misleading commercial practice or an aggressive commercial practice when this practice is followed by the conclusion of a contractand even at age seven when they are committed in an organized gang. At the same time, the executive plans to “strengthen the means of action of the DGCCRF (concerning in particular the exchange of information with other public authorities and the publicity given to administrative and criminal proceedings)“.