This is further proof that crooks know no borders.
Confirmation also that the health crisis linked to the coronavirus epidemic has given rise to new scams.
A vast fraud in paramedical equipment born in the Val-d'Oise, passing through China and Africa, has just been dismantled by the gendarmes of the Versailles research section.
The main organizer of this scam, a young man of 23, was indicted Thursday and placed under judicial supervision by an examining magistrate of Pontoise.
The case begins last October.
The lawyer of a company based in Hong Kong files a complaint with the Pontoise prosecutor's office.
Since the start of the health crisis, this manufacturer specializing in hygiene and cleaning products has seen its orders explode.
A Hong Kong branch of a German group, the company now exports its products all over the world.
During the summer, it therefore shipped and delivered in the Val-d'Oise two large orders of masks, hydroalcoholic gel and protective gloves.
According to the order form, this now popular equipment was intended for supermarkets located in Calvados, Allier and Mayenne.
But everything is false, and the bill of 200,000 euros is never paid.
Arrested in flagrante delicto
Informed of the scam in October, the gendarmes quickly established that the supermarkets were not at the origin of the order.
The one installed in Calvados even explains that the quantity ordered is 40 times greater than its needs!
The identity of these supermarkets has in fact been stolen.
"The sponsor managed to obtain the identity of the store manager to place his orders," said a source close to the investigation.
He then explained that the order had to be received in Val-d'Oise by a man with an invented identity.
"
The trail is being watched and in November, investigators and the Chinese company detect a new suspicious order.
This time again, it comes from the Allier supermarket and concerns two million pairs of protective gloves, for an amount of 140,000 euros.
Once again, the order must be delivered in Val-d'Oise.
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Like the criminals, the investigators of the Versailles SR are therefore tracking the order.
On December 15, they are also present in the warehouse of Saint-Witz where the crooks come to receive and unload their order.
The three men, a 26-year-old Algerian in an irregular situation, a 35-year-old Beninese and a 23-year-old Frenchman were arrested in flagrante delicto.
On site, investigators discovered more than 30 tonnes of cleaning products, detergents and other disinfectants.
All were stolen from a Spanish firm - which had not yet reported the scam - using the same modus operandi.
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According to investigators, all these products were not intended to stay in France.
They therefore suspect the main suspect in this case of having aimed to ship all these health products to Africa, and mainly to Côte d'Ivoire, his country of origin.
At his place, the gendarmes discovered stamps that were useful for identity theft or for shipping orders to Africa.
In police custody, the 23-year-old young man remained silent.
The two other men arrested Tuesday, a black-paid warehouseman and the owner of the warehouse, were released without prosecution at this stage.
