Four suspects, including two police officers, were indicted on June 24 in Paris in an investigation into the sale, via encrypted messaging, of counterfeit products and data from police files in particular, we learned on Monday 18 July from judicial sources close to the investigation.
One of the four suspects has been remanded in custody, according to the judicial source, confirming information from the newspaper Le Parisien. He is suspected of having supplied the platform with various illegal products from the fall of 2019, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
Counterfeit watches and jewelry were offered
Also a forger, he modified watches to give them the appearance of luxury pieces before putting them on sale on the platform: during a search, the investigators found many clockwork mechanisms. The three other suspects implicated were placed under judicial supervision, said the judicial source. Two of them are police officers and the third works in a car rental agency, according to the close source.
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They are notably accused of having played a role in the consultation of the Processing of criminal records (Taj) and the File of wanted persons (RPF) between January 2021 and last June, she added. The information obtained was then put up for sale on encrypted messaging for an average of 1,000 euros, according to The Parisian. On this platform, called La Geneverie, was also offered counterfeit watches and jewelry, fake driving licenses or identity documents.
Network dismantled
Judicial information has been opened in Paris for a whole series of offences, including, in particular, illicit entry into an information system, extraction and transmission of personal data implemented by the State in an organized gang, active and passive corruption, fraud , aggravated money laundering and participation in a criminal association with a view to the preparation of an offence.
According to Le Parisien, the network was dismantled by customs and the Central Office for the Fight against Cybercrime (OCLTIC) after the discovery, in October 2021 in a post office in Vaucluse, of two counterfeit watches with a market value of 54,600 euros in a parcel. The recipient was the platform administrator, who had given a false identity.
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The Central Office for the Fight against False Documents (Ocriest) and the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) also participated in this investigation.
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