Nine men implicated in a fake bank adviser scam were sentenced this Friday in Paris to two-year prison terms, suspended for five years, including one year suspended.
A tenth man tried alongside them was fully acquitted.
At the heart of this case, the "
hello
" scam, which consists of criminals posing as bank anti-fraud agents, after having purchased personal data and bank card numbers from customers on the internet.
They usurp the bank's customer service telephone number using the technique of "
spoofing
" (electronic identity theft) and, thanks to their insurance and good information, achieve their goal.
Customers thus validate online purchases or transfers of money to accounts opened solely to receive the funds, then transferred elsewhere or withdrawn in cash from ATMs.
“
Obviously the defendants did not invent the idea of pretending to be someone they trust
” to defraud people, said President Guillaume Daieff in rendering the decision, while noting that the “
hello
” scam was “
pretty new
” at the material time, in 2021.
“Organized gang” scam
The court considered that the defendants had indeed acted "
in an organized gang
" and that the "
distribution of tasks
" was clear: "
There is the one who buys the bank data, the one who calls the targets, the one buys and provides the telephones of work
", enumerates the president.
"
The one who offers the goods to be purchased
", "
the one who provides the bank accounts
" which will be used for the "
disbursement
" of the stolen funds, and those who rent the cars and luxury hotel rooms which will serve as a base "
to work
" , he continues.
In the footsteps of defense lawyers and the prosecution in its submissions, the court recognized that the damage, initially estimated at 2.6 million euros, had been greatly overstated.
"
Inflated with helium
," said the president, using the expression of the lawyers.
About 700 victims were identified at the start, then only 200 became civil parties at the hearing.
In the end, the court only validated the constitution of 37 of them.
He assessed their total material damage at around 190,000 euros (the defense and the prosecution had said 180,000), considering however, like the prosecution, that some victims had probably not been identified and that the real damage was undoubtedly more important.
The defendants will have to reimburse the victims.
