After using mobile phone numbers to carry out a text message scam, two men were arrested in the south of France. They had hacked the lines of Lyon police officers.
Here, the scammers must probably tell themselves that they have attacked the wrong people. Two individuals, arrested on April 22, 2024 in the south of the country by the Territorial Crime division, unknowingly used telephone lines belonging to members of the Rhône national police. They were indicted for having subsequently sent massive amounts of fraudulent SMS messages abroad.
Police phone lines used to carry out SMS scams
What happened ? Police officers from the Rhône Interregional Police Department (DIPN) discovered, between March 29 and April 3, 2024, that they had been hacked and that the access codes to their administrator account had been modified. Scammers fraudulently used DIPN telephone lines to carry out an SMS scam abroad.
In detail, the thugs managed to infiltrate the DIPN’s mobile subscription management system. They then ordered SIM cards, as investigators from the financial brigade discovered. These SIM cards were then used to carry out the famous fraudulent campaigns.
Police find 42,000 euros and a car
The Lyon police were quickly able to detect the illegal activity, fortunately, to put an end to the scam, after finding a phone used with different SIM cards. Law enforcement identified two suspects.
The first, already suspected of similar offenses but this time against private companies, named his accomplice who denied the facts in police custody, despite the evidence collected during the search of his home.
The investigators were still able to get their hands on 42,000 euros as well as a car, at the end of their investigations. The evidence convinced the authorities to indict the two individuals, placed in pre-trial detention, at the same time as the opening of a judicial investigation, which will allow the investigation to be further pursued.
Source : 20 minutes
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