At the end of four years of investigation, the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) has just dismantled a vast international network of diamond scams, with the prospect of fairly significant returns.
In total, no less than 1,400 precious stones were recovered and should be returned to compensate the 1,200 victims listed in France.
The case is tied in April 2017, when the police are seized of a fraud with false transfers targeting a football club in the region of Angers.
The investigations carried out by the Central Office for the Repression of Major Financial Crime (OCRGDF) and several branches of the PJ across France resulted in a network piloted from Israel.
Via a very neat platform, high-level criminals offered investments in diamonds.
The victims were individuals "phished" on the internet or canvassed directly by pseudo-salespeople with well-honed speeches and "aggressive" commercial methods.
Under the mattress, 27 kilos of diamonds
Often blinded by the greed, individuals made bank transfers after having most often seen the merchandise only in simple photographs.
"These well-known investment scams are practiced in various fields, in particular on whiskey or even parking placements
," says
the division commissioner Anne-Sophie Coulbois, head of the OCRGDF
, to
Figaro
.
The announced financial returns are attractive, but not excessive so as not to arouse suspicion. ”
After various technical investigations, telephone tapping and international cooperation, French police officers were able to go to Israel in 2019, where a crackdown was carried out.
Under the bed of one of the suspects, the police found 800 diamonds, with a total weight of 27 kilos.
The stones, of poor quality, were estimated between 500,000 and one million euros.
At the end of the investigations, no less than 25 people were arrested, including the organizers, suppliers of precious stones, launderers or even “bank mules” used to open accounts.
Damage estimated at 30 million euros
The French police were able to establish the overall damage at 30 million euros.
To confuse the issue, a clever arrangement had been put in place: the sums transferred by the victims took a clever route through Europe, before passing through mainland China and Hong Kong.
At the end of the chain, part of the money was redistributed in cash in France to members of the network by complicit Chinese traders.
Last week, the OCRGDF was able to travel to Israel to recover the 800 diamonds.
They will be added to the 600 diamonds found in France, to make a global lot of 1400 intended to partially compensate the victims.
Before closing this marathon investigation led by the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (JIRS) of Nancy, the police also hit criminals in the wallet, allowing the seizure of 4.5 million criminal assets in cash and bank accounts.
