New legal action against the scourge of online scams impersonating an organization. Two 19-year-old young men have just been arrested in mid-December by investigators from the cybercrime brigade, reveals Le Parisien. They must be tried next April during an appearance on prior admission of guilt.
Their online scams targeted the National Agency for Automated Crime Processing (Antai). They were based on phishing, the main computer threat targeting individuals according to the public interest group Cybermalveillance.
Jean-Baptiste and Rayan, originally from Paris and Roubaix, are thus suspected of having launched fraudulent SMS campaigns for approximately nine months, between October 2022 and July 2023, targeting this public structure responsible for recovering fines.
1700 stolen card numbers
With some success since according to the police, cited by the daily, they managed to get their hands on more than 1,700 bank card numbers. These were resold to third parties or used to make online purchases, for an amount of around 19,000 euros.
Typically, the fraudulent SMS sent led victims to a fake website imitating that of Antai. Internet users were then invited to enter their bank details to regularize a fine. As Antai reminds us, the structure never sends SMS. As for emails, they must come from a specific address. Finally, Antai recommends systematically checking the address of the website visited.
It is not clear how the two young men were identified by police. However, this is not the first suspect arrested in the context of an online scam usurping Antai.
Malicious campaigns become a scourge
Le Parisien had in fact already reported on the arrest of a young man from Seine-et-Marne, indicted at the end of April 2023 in a similar case. He was arrested by chance, after having forgotten a suitcase containing sachets of cannabis, three mobile phones and false papers in front of a regional accounts chamber in Île-de-France.
“Sasori”, his nickname on Snapchat, then went to the police station to report the loss of his suitcase. Intrigued by his profile, investigators then discovered 274,600 euros in cash, two high-end cars as well as bank cards and false identity cards at his home during a search.
Significant gains to be compared with the growth of these campaigns, which have become real scourges polluting email boxes and telephone messaging systems. Last March, StalkPhish, a phishing campaign detection and analysis service, for example, counted on average over the last month more than 16 malicious campaigns per day targeting Antai, i.e. 646 unique domain names and 245 IP addresses.