For three years, Charly Acosta, a student at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Montpellier, has been living a nightmare: he receives fines from a person who does not pay his train tickets and who, when giving a name to the inspector, gives… Charly's.
Regularly, the young man sees large sums seized by the Public Treasury directly from his account.
“In November 2022, I discovered a withdrawal of more than 740 euros from my bank account,” remembers Charly, who is a level 6 scholarship holder and whose setbacks were recounted by Midi Libre.
His bank then directs him to the tax service, which refers him to the fines department of the Public Treasury.
A cold shower for the young man who then discovers that these are unpaid fines to the SNCF to whom he owes 3,795 euros for trips made between the beginning of January 2022 and June of the same year.
Problem is, he never took the trains he was accused of not having paid for and the fines in his name were not sent home.
Anyone who steals their identity uses their first and last name, a copy of the back of their identity card, but another address.
Since January 2022, the system has continued: “At the beginning he took two fines, one on the way out and one on the way back, he realized that it worked so he increased the number of trips.
About twenty in 2022, and today I am at 34, including around thirty canceled.
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A vicious circle
“In the event of identity theft, we advise our travelers to contact our Usurpation service as quickly as possible (usurpation@sncf.fr) by providing the filing of a complaint, the declaration of loss of the identity card , the copy of the identity card and the documents attesting that the person victim of theft was not on the train at the time of the events", lists the SNCF for its part, aware that the "process is tedious": " It is essential so that our Usurpation service can initiate processing of a file.
Unfortunately, we are sometimes confronted with false reports of identity theft.
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Filing a complaint is a prerequisite for Maître Marie-Camille Eck, an expert lawyer in identity theft cases.
“When you are the victim of an offense in transport, you have to file a complaint for identity theft, generally against X, although make no mistake, it is rare that the perpetrators are found.
Then, provide proof that you cannot be at the scene of the offense to the SNCF or RATP.
»
An obstacle course for Charly, who sets about sending letters as soon as he receives notification of the fine.
Problem is, he often learns about it after the three-month deadline.
“After this period, we no longer have the possibility of processing the files,” underlines the SNCF.
It is then the Public Treasury which takes charge of the file.
And with whom you must then contest the fines.
“The goal will be to provide as many elements as possible that will convince, such as an annual transport card, because we will not commit fraud if we have a subscription!
», Lists Maître Eck.
“It’s taking me a phenomenal amount of time to prove that it’s not me instead of working for my studies!”
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A situation well known to Charly whose collection letters did not reach him and which caused the sum to be seized directly from the student's bank account and the fine increased by 10%.
For each fine to be contested, he must provide proof that he did not travel himself on the journey he is accused of having made without paying.
“I have to provide bank statements day after day, credit card statements with payments at the U restaurant, or in a café, I have to ask for a certificate from my employer where I work in the summer to pay for my studies.
It takes me a phenomenal amount of time to prove that it's not me instead of working for my studies!
»
Especially since financially, the young man has added up.
“I am at a loss of 7,300 euros while being a student and without a fixed salary,” he laments while emphasizing that his bank also applies “bank charges of 10% to each seizure at the request of 'a third (SATD)': “Out of 830 euros, the bank takes 83 euros from me, and if I don't have enough money, it takes commissions.
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“When I receive a letter, my heart aches”
Charly Acosta, victim of identity theft
In addition to weighing on his finances and his working time, the student begins to be affected psychologically: “I use the flash of my phone to look in my mailbox to be quicker to see if I have mail .
When I receive a letter, my heart aches.
The person travels as if it were free, the ticket should cost him 6 euros, but it's me who pays and it costs me 180 behind", points out Charly who today, in February 2024, receives the fines from September 2023.
A situation which could perhaps be avoided if Charly's name or his identity document sounded the alert on the controllers' scanning tools.
“We must also contact the SNCF so that it directly transmits the offenses before the increased stage or requests the establishment of a filter on the identity of the person,” concludes Maitre Eck.