Their names are Sandoz, Le Roi des rats, or Studio TV, and their videos sometimes add up to millions of views on YouTube. For a few years, these videographers have made a specialty of flushing out and trapping internet scammers.
False support scam, phishing, premium rate numbers, according to the report of the Ministry of the Interior on the state of the threat related to digital dated 2019, in 2018, the number of complaints processed by the Gendarmerie for offenses under the scope cyber increased by more than 7% to reach almost 67,890 incidents, including 73% of scams. With on the front line, the elderly who are easily fooled on the Internet.
Entertainment and prevention
A scam is particularly devastating: the scam of false technical support very common on streaming sites, video games or pornography. Most of the time, a pop-up window appears and freezes the screen. A message suggests that the computer is infected with a virus and that its owner must call a technician number to repair it. In reality, the number refers to a call center, most of the time located in the Maghreb, India or Mauritius. Employees offer to install security software (often ineffective) in exchange for a large sum of money. They are paid for each converted call.
This is where the role of our youtubers comes in. Most of the time they call the technicians and run them wild, until the latter give up. Leaving to make fun of them: "It is both entertainment and a means of prevention," says Steve from Studio TV. Sandoz, 34, began to take an interest in online scams around 2016, after being on the verge of a scam himself. "I told myself that it could be of service to others," explains this former insurance broker. Three years later, he accumulates close to 200,000 subscribers and lives on advertising in his videos, often scripted.
Behind the amateurism of certain youtubers, certain videos can prove to be decisive. Centho claims to have closed a call center that was scamming false technical support in Tunisia. As for Steve from Studio TV, he claims to have contributed to an investigation by the gendarmerie to close a company based in France. If it is impossible to have proof, their work has an undeniable impact in terms of prevention on users. "Some people do a good job with other methods than the usual ones for journalists," said Franck Attia, editor-in-chief of the UFC-Que Choisir site.
Powerless authorities
In early 2019, an investigation by the Center for Combating Digital Crime (C3N) led to the arrest of three Lyonnais, accused of having created a false computer assistance platform and scammed nearly 8,000 Internet users for the amount of two million euros.
Despite the creation of specialized cells, the authorities often find themselves powerless in the face of these opaque companies, sometimes registered abroad, under false names, and in countries where there is not necessarily judicial cooperation. "The difference with us is that we are constrained by the law," says Marc *, a police officer who prefers to remain anonymous. Not to mention that the victims do not always complain: "On scams on a low budget, nobody goes to see a lawyer, it does not make sense, it is too expensive and the chances of success are hyper random", explains master Romain Darrière. So many procedures that you do not bother with.
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It is not uncommon for the police and gendarmes to congratulate them on their work: "I recommend you to victims who wish [nt] to know more about cybercrime and scams. Bravo again, ”wrote one of them in messages viewed by Le Parisien. "I greatly admire what you do, which can even lighten our work," wrote yet another.
With a computer, a bit of knack and some hacking skills, some youtubers are particularly effective in the fight against scams. In a few clicks, they implant a virus on the computer of their interlocutor and are capable of recovering entire databases. "But that, I never show it in my videos," says Vince.
"Not always legal" practices
With these apprentice hackers, the deviations from the law are assumed: "If you rob a house, you are not going to file a complaint because you hurt your finger", metaphorizes Centho. Understand: no mercy on the crooks. "I think I am doing a service even if I have practices that are not always legal, like the day I took control of a computer remotely," says Sandoz. Often, his videos end in insults against the alleged scammers. What lose the support of the police? Not necessarily: "As long as we are not in physical aggression, that the youtubeur does not put anybody in danger, that does not pose me a problem", judge Marc *, the police officer.
Despite everything, it happens that our police officers are caught by the law. Sandoz has already seen his video on the insurer SFAM deleted for its defamatory nature. In June 2019, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and the Suppression of Fraud (DGCCRF) condemned the company to a 10 million euro fine for "deceptive marketing practices". Sandoz had then helped to denounce their practices in a video. But the company eventually filed a complaint against him.
Information or defamation?
Recently, the youtubeur still had to delete a defamatory and false video about the insurance broker Samassur. Without commenting on the merits of the case, their lawyer, Maître Sophie Savaïdes denounces “irresponsible and anonymous youtubeur practices […] who denounce anything, with any impunity, in terms often offensive, defamatory and denigrants inciting hatred and violence for the sole purpose of racing to the hearing ”. For his part, Sandoz claims to have changed his methods: “I did a bit of anything in my first videos. I even sometimes insulted people. Now I'm careful to blur the names of the brands and to respect the contradictory, in particular ”.
In 2014, a blogger had been ordered to pay 1,500 euros in damages to a restaurant for "bashing". Rules too often ignored by content publishers, warns master Sophie Savaïdes, "Internet or social networks to hide behind anonymity and denounce with impunity anything that could generate buzz, whether founded or not, without worry about the damage done. Our youtubers are warned, from denunciation to defamation, there is only one step.