Watch out for financial scams! Faced with the record level of savings collected since the beginning of the year - 13.5 billion euros for the Livret A and LDDS accounts - and an equally impressive bank outstanding in the first quarter - 35 billion euros -, the authorities market surveillance and financial investments call the French to the greatest vigilance in their investments. Especially in this Covid-19 period when the risk of scams of all kinds is increasing.
Phishing, site cloning, identity theft, false safe haven values, prize pools or calls for donations, pyramid selling… All means are good for collecting your data, reselling it when it is not a question of robbing you online. "We are witnessing a resurgence of fraudulent sites and offers, scammers have rushed into the opportunity offered by the Covid-19, says the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF). But we can not conclude a jump in scams, because there is always a lag time, inertia between the realization of a fraud and its awareness by his victim. On the other hand, the two authorities "fear" an increase in future complaints and disputes.
Accelerating the industrialization of financial scams
Just between January and April last, 220 names of new fraudulent sites came to join the 1,250 sites already registered on the black lists of the common pole between the AMF and the Authority of prudential control and resolution (ACPR). Created in 2010, it is responsible for identifying the main financial risks to which savers are exposed. He has seen his task intensified in recent months.
"In 2018, our five black lists listed 750 names, we added 500 more in 2019," explains Nathalie Beaudemoulin, director of control of business practices at the ACPR, also coordinator of this pole. We are witnessing an acceleration of the industrialization of scams. "
Examples? The pole is not lacking. "A lot of it takes place by phishing data, through social networks and applications, which collect all your personal data", underlines Claire Castanet, director of investor relations at the AMF. This is the case in particular of a campaign launched online inviting to invest in hydroxychloroquine, presented as "the only remedy against coronavirus".
If most of the time, the data is sold, it can also be subject to later processing and a targeted telephone call to trap the saver. The scammer can then invite him to connect to a “showcase” site encouraging him to invest in safe havens such as gold, wine and even whiskey where the individual will take several months before understanding that he s is scammed.
Abeis lists the fraudulent actors
"Before any investment, remember to check that your operator or intermediary is registered in the register of intermediaries in payment services, the Orias or in the Register of financial agents (Regafi)", warns Nathalie Beaudemoulin. Do not hesitate to consult the ABEIS site (Insurance, banking, savings, info service), managed by the Banque de France, the AMF and the ACPR, which lists the names of the fraudulent actors registered on the black lists of financial authorities.
Finally, watch out for the original investments announcing performances far above average. The airport parking space scam is a great example. It consists of investing 10,000 euros in a location in Italy or in Spain, an investment that offers, on paper, an annual profitability of more than 5.8% over ten years ... Many individuals have been tricked, for a total 2.3 million euros for an average ticket of 58,000 euros according to Claire Castanet. If the vulnerable and the elderly are the priority targets, the young are not forgotten. Attracted by a training pack of a few hours in the trade of trader, they are the subject of fraud based on pyramid selling, a device where the scammer enriches himself by constantly recruiting new customers.
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"We are in the shadow world," concludes the expert. It is therefore difficult to precisely quantify the extent of the phenomenon. The ACPR and the AMF estimate the amount of losses linked to these financial frauds and scams at nearly 1 billion euros between 2017 and 2019.
