Ardennes: dismantling of a network practicing partial unemployment fraud

Eight people have been indicted in the Ardennes since December for having "

swindled

" temporary employment agencies and practiced short-time work fraud using "

bogus employees and bogus companies

", for the loss of around a million euros, the judicial police announced on Monday.

Read also: Parents of students soon to return to partial unemployment?

Among these people, mainly aged 45 to 50 years and "

involved to different degrees

" in this "

organized gang scam

", is the

alleged

"

brain

" of the network, "

already known for acts of fraud

", told AFP the divisional commissioner Jean-Michel Bolusset, director of the regional judicial police service (SRPJ) of Reims.

False temporary workers

The PJ had been seized in June 2020 by the prosecutor's office of Charleville-Mézières, after the complaints of two temporary agencies, for facts going back "

for some to 2018-2019

".

The crooks “

embezzled the money of the agencies (...) by the means of bogus temporary workers and companies whose company name was created from scratch or usurped.

The agencies paid temporary workers who do not exist, on behalf of companies which have never employed them,

”summarized Mr. Bolusset.

Complaints were lodged by a dozen companies "

all over France, and centralized in the Ardennes because it is there that the bogus companies

"

were located,

supposed to hire these temporary workers, generally for public works sites.

By working on the destination bank accounts, the investigators realized "

that money was passing through the same accounts, not coming from these scams, but from partial unemployment scams

", therefore sums "

paid by the public bodies,

”said Mr. Bolusset.

"The crooks adapt to the context"

From the spring of 2020, following the aid measures for companies announced by the State to deal with the health crisis linked to Covid-19, “

the same crooks adapted to the context (...) and practiced the partial unemployment scam

”, sometimes using“

the same bogus employees and companies

”, he detailed.

Read also: Dussopt tracks short-time work fraud

In total, the damage is estimated at one million euros, of which "

about two thirds

" related to fraud in short-time work.

Of the eight people indicted between late December and mid-January, four were remanded in custody.

The other four are placed under judicial control.