Internet scam (THESEE): find the answer to your question

What's a fake rental scam?

According to article 313-1 of the penal code, fraud is the act, either by the use of a false name or a false quality, or by the abuse of a true quality, or by the use of fraudulent maneuvers, of deceiving a natural or legal person and thus determining him, to his prejudice or to the prejudice of a third party, to hand over funds, values or any property, to provide a service or to consent to an act of obligation or discharge.

The fraud is punishable by five years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros.

False rental scam is the act of posting on a website an advertisement for the rental of a property that does not exist or is unavailable in order to determine the victim to hand over money without obtaining the proposed rental.

What to do?

If you have sent a copy of your identity documents (CNI, passports, driver's license...), simply indicate the references (associated number or date...) of which you are aware, in the “additional information” section.

Do not hesitate to lodge a complaint at a police station or a gendarmerie for identity theft, in case of fraudulent use of your personal data suitable to identify you (opening of a bank account, opening of a consumer credit...).

How to protect yourself?

Verify the authenticity of a sender before sending personal or sensitive information by email

Don't send money to someone you've never met physically.

Blurring or concealing part of the information on the copy of the identity document sent to an individual, or adding a reference to that copy: ‘transmitted on ...’ or ‘transmitted to...’

What's a complaint?

A complaint is the act by which a person who considers himself a victim of an offense informs the judicial authority. The complaint is binding on the complainant. It may be requested by investigators. If he so requests, he may be informed of the judicial follow-up given to his case. The complainant must identify himself.

What's a report?

The alert serves to inform the investigation services of the existence of an offense.

The follow-up given to alerts shall be reserved exclusively for the judicial authority. The signalman may choose to remain anonymous

What's a prepaid card?

It is a means of payment disconnected from any bank account.

Once credited with a sum of money, it allows you to pay for your purchases as well as to withdraw money.

PCS coupons are one example. The disclosure of the coupon number makes it possible to benefit from the sum recorded.

What's a scam of the fake buyer and fake seller?

According to article 313-1 of the penal code, fraud is the act, either by the use of a false name or a false quality, or by the abuse of a true quality, or by the use of fraudulent maneuvers, of deceiving a natural or legal person and thus determining him, to his prejudice or to the prejudice of a third party, to hand over funds, values or any property, to provide a service or to consent to an act of obligation or discharge.

The fraud is punishable by five years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros.

False buyer fraud involves deceiving a victim selling a property online on a classified ads site with falsified information and documents from a fake buyer.

Fake seller scam is the act of deceiving a victim buying a property online from a classified ad site with falsified information or documents.

What to do?

If you have sent a copy of your identity documents (CNI, passports, driver's license...), simply indicate the references (associated number or date...) of which you are aware, in the section “additional information”.

Do not hesitate to lodge a complaint at a police station or a gendarmerie for identity theft, in case of fraudulent use of your personal data suitable to identify you (opening of a bank account, opening of a consumer credit...).

How to protect yourself

Wait until you have received the money before delivering a sold good.

Do not give the code allowing the package to be removed until you have collected the money.

Be wary of links to sites with the name of payment agency indicating that a sum of money is being paid.

Blurring or concealing part of the information on the copy of the identity document sent to an individual, or adding a reference to that copy: ‘transmitted on ...’ or ‘transmitted to...’

Prefer sites that play intermediaries: the seller will only receive the transaction amount if the delivery is compliant and the buyer will only receive the product if he has paid.

Favor direct local cash transactions.

Opt for parcel tracking.

Beware of emails justifying payments, some can be false.

Avoid sending money to facilitate the sale of your property (e.g. for transportation costs).

Check with the banking organizations the reality of the payment before sending the goods.

What's a complaint?

A complaint is the act by which a person who considers himself a victim of an offense informs the judicial authority. The complaint is binding on the complainant. It may be requested by investigators. If he so requests, he may be informed of the judicial follow-up given to his case. The complainant must identify himself.

What's a report?

The alert serves to inform the investigation services of the existence of an offense.

The follow-up given to alerts shall be reserved exclusively for the judicial authority. The signalman may choose to remain anonymous.

What's a prepaid card?

It is a means of payment disconnected from any bank account.

Once credited with a sum of money, it allows you to pay for your purchases as well as to withdraw money.

PCS coupons are one example. The disclosure of the coupon number makes it possible to benefit from the sum recorded.

What's a profile hack or e-mail hack?

According to article 313-1 of the penal code, fraud is the act, either by the use of a false name or a false quality, or by the abuse of a true quality, or by the use of fraudulent maneuvers, of deceiving a natural or legal person and thus determining him, to his prejudice or to the prejudice of a third party, to hand over funds, values or any property, to provide a service or to consent to an act of obligation or discharge.

The fraud is punishable by five years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros.

In this modus operandi, the scam is connected to another offense: fraudulent access to an automated data processing system (computer, mobile phone, connected object, hard disk...). According to Article 323-1 of the Penal Code, the act of accessing or maintaining, fraudulently, in all or part of an automated data processing system is punishable by two years' imprisonment and a fine of €60,000.

What to do?

Providers of email accounts and social networks have a hacking assistance service. Their contact details are published on their website.

How to protect yourself?

When creating the email address, provide an email address or recovery phone number where possible.

Prefer two-factor authentication.

Choose a complex and long password (special, uppercase, lowercase, digits), which will be changed regularly.

Never reply to an email that asks for bank details, ID or password. Banks or other trusted institutions never request them by e-mail.

In case of doubt, contact yourself your bank or the organization concerned, without using the link proposed in the fraudulent email.

What's a complaint?

A complaint is the act by which a person who considers himself a victim of an offense informs the judicial authority. The complaint is binding on the complainant. It may be requested by investigators. If he so requests, he may be informed of the judicial follow-up given to his case. The complainant must identify himself.

What's a report?

The alert serves to inform the investigation services of the existence of an offense.

The follow-up given to alerts shall be reserved exclusively for the judicial authority. The signaling agent may remain anonymous.

What's a prepaid card?

It is a means of payment disconnected from any bank account.

Once credited with a sum of money, it allows you to pay for your purchases as well as to withdraw money.

PCS coupons are one example. The disclosure of the coupon number makes it possible to benefit from the sum recorded.

What's malware?

It is also called “malware”. This is a generic term for hostile or intrusive software such as a computer virus, a worm, a trojan horse, etc., The user is invited to click on an email attachment containing malicious software that will settle on his computer, in order to subsequently recover his data or take control over the network to which he belongs.

What is phishing?

Phishing or phishing is a technique by which malicious persons pose as large businesses, public administrations or financial institutions that are familiar. They send fraudulent emails to retrieve credit card numbers, login credentials or other personal data by clicking on an attachment or visiting a fake website.

What's ransomware?

According to article 312-1 of the penal code, extortion is the act of obtaining by violence, threat of violence or coercion either a signature, a pledge or a renunciation, or the disclosure of a secret, or the delivery of funds, values or any property.

Extortion is punishable by seven years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros.

This extortion may be related to the hindering or distorting of the operation of an automated data processing system (computer, mobile phone, connected object, hard disk...) , an offense provided for in article 323-2 of the penal code.

Ransomware. The files and data of the computer, tablet, smartphone are encrypted (encrypted) or the systems are rendered useless by means of a computer virus. A ransom is demanded from the victim to obtain the encryption key.

How to protect yourself?

Never open e-mail attachments whose author is unknown or unexpected e-mail (e.g. an invoice for a property not purchased);

Save personal data on an independent medium;

Maintain antivirus software and configure a firewall;

Implement anti-spam software;

Regularly clean your PC, including temporary files;

Use sufficiently complex passwords and change them regularly;

Beware of fraudulent emails or ad pages indicating an alleged hack, encryption may not be real.

How to clean your device?

Go to cyber malevolence.gouv.fr.

Verify that a cleaning solution is not already published on the site nomoreransom.org.

What's nomoreransom.org?

Nomoreransom.org is a web portal set up under the aegis of Europol to help victims of ransomware.

What's a complaint?

A complaint is the act by which a person who considers himself a victim of an offense informs the judicial authority. The complaint is binding on the complainant. It may be requested by investigators. If he so requests, he may be informed of the judicial follow-up given to his case. The complainant must identify himself.

What's a report?

The alert serves to inform the investigation services of the existence of an offense.

The follow-up given to alerts shall be reserved exclusively for the judicial authority. The signaling agent may remain anonymous.

What's malware?

It is also called “malware”. This is a generic term for hostile or intrusive software such as a computer virus, a worm, a trojan horse, etc. The user is invited to click on an email attachment containing malicious software that will settle on his computer, in order to later retrieve his data or take control over the network to which he belongs.

What is phishing?

Phishing or phishing is a technique by which malicious persons pose as large businesses, public administrations or financial institutions that are familiar. They send fraudulent emails to retrieve credit card numbers, login credentials or other personal data by clicking on an attachment or visiting a fake website.

What is online blackmail?

According to article 312-10 of the penal code, blackmail is the act of obtaining, by threatening to reveal or impute facts likely to undermine honor or consideration, either a signature, a commitment or a renunciation, or the disclosure of a secret, or the delivery of funds, values or any property.

Blackmail is punished with five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.

Online blackmail involves threatening the victim with posting offensive images or videos in order to obtain money from the victim.

Blackmail can be hidden behind ransomware.

How to protect yourself?

Always remain vigilant about the reality of the identity of your correspondent.

Do not share personal information with strangers.

Secure your social media profiles and limit access to your personal information.

What to do?

Report to the site hosting the compromising images or videos that have been captured and released without your consent and request their immediate removal.

Cut off all contact with the master singer in order to remove any possibility of his grip.

Don't pay any money. This would encourage the scammer to ask for more and would not guarantee that the images he possesses would not be disseminated.

Invite all contacts not to view messages from this criminal network.

Take screenshots justifying your situation (messages received...).

File a complaint.

What's a complaint?

A complaint is the act by which a person who considers himself a victim of an offense informs the judicial authority. The complaint is binding on the complainant. It may be requested by investigators. If he so requests, he may be informed of the judicial follow-up given to his case. The complainant must identify himself.

What's a report?

The alert serves to inform the investigation services of the existence of an offense.

The follow-up given to alerts shall be reserved exclusively for the judicial authority. The signalman may choose to remain anonymous.

What's a prepaid card?

It is a means of payment disconnected from any bank account.

Once credited with a sum of money, it allows you to pay for your purchases as well as to withdraw money.

PCS coupons are one example. The disclosure of the coupon number makes it possible to benefit from the sum recorded.

What's a fake sales site?

According to article 313-1 of the penal code, fraud is the act, either by the use of a false name or a false quality, or by the abuse of a true quality, or by the use of fraudulent maneuvers, of deceiving a natural or legal person and thus determining him, to his prejudice or to the prejudice of a third party, to hand over funds, values or any property, to provide a service or to consent to an act of obligation or discharge.

The fraud is punishable by five years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros.

The fake sales site scam consists in creating on the Internet a site offering products for sale without there being an exchange of property for the sum paid by the victim.

How to protect yourself?

Find at the bottom of the website the existence of legal notices (general conditions of sale, registration in the register of commerce and businesses)

French law contains a number of provisions to protect consumers. Be careful, it only applies on French territory.

A dispute with a foreigners website is unlikely to be settled under French law.

Look for other users' opinions if the website is little known.

How do I know if an online sales site is fraudulent?

- check the reputation of the website

- check the legal notices

- be vigilant in the face of an overly attractive offer

- do not rely solely on consumer opinions

- prefer a European or French site

- be vigilant when making payments

What to do?

Inquire with your bank about insurance on the fraudulent payment method used.

Never pay an additional fee if another fraudulent business or a fake investigation service announces that you have recovered the money lost, especially in cases of fake investment sites (Diamond, Bitcoin, Wine, Parking, etc.).

What's a complaint?

A complaint is the act by which a person who considers himself a victim of an offense informs the judicial authority. The complaint is binding on the complainant. It may be requested by investigators. If he so requests, he may be informed of the judicial follow-up given to his case. The complainant must identify himself.

What's a report?

The alert serves to inform the investigation services of the existence of an offense.

The follow-up given to alerts shall be reserved exclusively for the judicial authority. The signalman may choose to remain anonymous.

What's a romance scam?

According to article 313-1 of the penal code, fraud is the act, either by the use of a false name or a false quality, or by the abuse of a true quality, or by the use of fraudulent maneuvers, of deceiving a natural or legal person and thus determining him, to his prejudice or to the prejudice of a third party, to hand over funds, values or any property, to provide a service or to consent to an act of obligation or discharge.

The fraud is punishable by five years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros.

Feeling scam is when you're in an online relationship that you're fraudulently enticing the victim into paying money.

How to protect yourself?

Notify the agency if a loved one is in this situation.

Don't send money to someone you've never met physically.

Blurring or concealing part of the information on the copy of the identity document sent to an individual, or adding a reference to that copy: ‘transmitted on ...’ or ‘transmitted to ...’.

What to do?

If you have sent a copy of your identity documents (CNI, passports, driver's license...), simply indicate the references (associated number or date...) of which you are aware, in the “additional information” section.

Do not hesitate to lodge a complaint (in a police station or a gendarmerie) for identity theft, in case of fraudulent use of your personal data suitable to identify you (opening a bank account, opening a consumer credit...).

What's a prepaid card?

It is a means of payment disconnected from any bank account.

Once credited with a sum of money, it allows you to pay for your purchases as well as to withdraw money.

PCS coupons are one example. The disclosure of the coupon number makes it possible to benefit from the sum recorded.

What's a complaint?

A complaint is the act by which a person who considers himself a victim of an offense informs the judicial authority. The complaint is binding on the complainant. It may be requested by investigators. If he so requests, he may be informed of the judicial follow-up given to his case. The complainant must identify himself.

What's a report?

The alert serves to inform the investigation services of the existence of an offense.

The follow-up given to alerts shall be reserved exclusively for the judicial authority. The signalman may choose to remain anonymous