His little shenanigans could have continued for a long time if a complaint had not been filed on July 28 by a figure in the world of reality TV.
A 33-year-old man was indicted Thursday, September 1 in the evening for "usurpation of the quality of police officer", "collection and dissemination of data", "interference in public files" and "fraud", we learn this Saturday from a judicial source, confirming information from Le
Parisien
.
He was imprisoned immediately.
The man is suspected of having, in Paris but very probably in other cities in France, used spoofing software, which makes it possible to hide the origin of the call, to pose as a policeman and call officers in the police stations.
All this with the aim of recovering confidential information from police files.
As surprising as it may seem, the scam has worked many times.
The little scammer was thus able to broadcast data on influencers, reality TV stars, rappers and complete strangers on two YouTube channels.
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On July 28, Magali Berdah, an agent for reality TV personalities, filed a complaint after confidential information about her criminal past was revealed in one of the fake policeman's videos.
Seized of the file, the Brigade for the repression of delinquency against the person (BRDP), in co-operation with the Brigade for the fight against cybercrime (BL2C), quickly looked into the two YouTube channels which have 860 subscribers and 180,000 views, according to
Le Parisien
.
The officials then found that the suspect had posted about fifty videos where he makes public his conversations with the police who deliver him unsuspecting information from the processing of criminal records (TAJ) and the file of wanted persons (RPF).
“
A militant act against influencers and reality TV
”
To achieve his ends without fear of being identified, the author of these calls would have usurped another telephone number, the famous method of spoofing.
In addition, he would perfectly master the police language, spelling the names with the military alphabet: "alpha", "bravo", "charlie"... Sometimes going so far as to give a false crew number.
According to the prosecution, contacted by
Le Parisien
, he even offered to sell this confidential data for 50 or 120 euros.
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Quickly identified, he was arrested earlier this week at his home in Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis) before being placed in police custody at the premises of the judicial police (PJ), in Paris .
His telephone and computer equipment were seized and exploited by PJ technicians.
“The analyzes carried out on the voices of the videos also suggest that he was helped by accomplices”
, adds a prosecutor who recalls that the police also discovered text messages from possible accomplices who remain to be identified.
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Already well known to the courts, his criminal record would mention some eighteen convictions, including three for fraudulent access to personal data.
During his hearing in police custody, the respondent, unemployed, generally confessed.
He, however, refuted the facts of fraud.
“I don't sell TAJs.
It's not true and it's not me.
The rates advanced by the prosecutor come from a comment made by someone else on my channel”
, he would have defended himself.
Plus, he would have considered his behavior
“as a militant act against influencers and reality TV”, which make
“
young people dream with their product placements.
»
"He did not blackmail anyone and did not receive any money"
, argues his lawyer, Me Paul Faucon.
The council wonders rather about the functioning of the police who deliver confidential information on a simple phone call.