Scamming
Verified 15 January 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Additional cases ?
A scam is when the perpetrator obtains a good, a service or money by deception (fraudulent maneuvers...) if it is shown that the perpetrator intended to deceive the victim. If you are a victim, you can file a complaint with the police or gendarmerie or by mail with the prosecutor. For some Internet scams, you can file a complaint online using the THESEE online service. We present you with the information you need to know.
Definition
Scamming is a crime.
It consists for the swindler in deceive one person (physics or morality) to push her to him hand over a property, money or to to provide a service.
The victim must have acted voluntarily after being deceived about the intentions of the author who conceals the truth from him.
The scammer can deceive his victim by one of the following means:
- Using a False Name
- Use of a false qualification (pretending to be a legal or health professional or using a false family situation as a widower while the spouse is still alive)
- Misuse of the trust attached to certain professions, certain functions (mayor, union representative, president of association...)
- Use of a false document (for example, a false diploma or invoice)
The scam can take very simple forms or sometimes be real fraudulent maneuvers with possible staging and interventions of third parties (accomplice). A simple lie is not a scam. The crook must have imagined his action (tricks, staging, etc.).
Example :
- Sale of fake concert tickets
- Degradation or false theft of property to obtain insurance compensation
- Fraudulent text messages asking you to regularize an unpaid fine on a fake administrative website
- False summons to the police or gendarmerie received by email in order to claim money from the victim
- Phishing
- Fake online sales
- Romance scam (emotional swindle) which aims to obtain a sum of money from the victim who has developed feelings towards the crook
- False bank advisor asking you to validate transactions
Difference from theft and breach of trust
The scam is different from the theft. It is theft when property is stolen from the victim against his will.
The scam is different from breach of trust. In a scam, the transaction is fraudulent from the start. In a breach of trust, the perpetrator legally received the good or money and then embezzled it.
Example :
One guardian who steals money from the person under guardianship is a breach of trust. The guardian has the legal right to manage the money for a specific purpose, but has subsequently misappropriated that right for his benefit.
Conversely, if the crook pretends to be a guardian of a person to withdraw money from the bank, he commits a scam, because he has no right to manage that money.
Please note
leaving without paying from a restaurant or a petrol station is a trickery. This is not theft or fraud.
Declare fraud
As soon as you discover that you have been the victim of a scam (forged check, transfer, purchase by credit card...), you must alert immediately your bank.
This allows you to attempt to cancel the operation (without any guarantee of success) and to avoid a new fraud.
If your checks or credit card data were used by the scammer, you must train opposition.
You can also use the Perceval online service, to report credit card fraud :
Report credit card fraud (Perceval)
This procedure on Perceval is usually requested by the banks to prove that you have notified the service of the national gendarmerie specialized in credit card fraud.
Warning
If you report credit card fraud on Perceval, you must also confirm your objection in writing without delay.
FYI
in case of doubt, do not hesitate to contact your bank to check the regularity of a banking transaction. You should be especially careful when you receive information by phone, email or SMS confirming or requesting validation of ongoing payment transactions, which you have not requested.
File a complaint
General case
On the spot
You must surrender in a police station or to the gendarme of your choice.
Police or gendarmerie services are obliged to register your complaint if you are a victim of an offense.
The complaint is then forwarded to the public prosecutor for a decision on further action (investigation, closure without further action...).
If you don't know the perpetrator, you can first fill out a online pre-complaint before you move.
The pre-complaint can be made online:
Then you need to sign your complaint on-site in a police station or a gendarmerie brigade that you choose.
The police or gendarmes already have the elements of your complaint when you arrive.
By mail
You can file a complaint with the public prosecutor.
To do this, you must send an email to the court of law of the place of the offense or of the domicile of the offender.
Who shall I contact
Your mail should include the following:
- Your marital status and full contact information (address and telephone number)
- Detailed account of the facts, date and place of the offense
- Name of the alleged perpetrator if known (otherwise, the complaint will be filed against X)
- Name and address of any witnesses to the offense
- Description and provisional or definitive estimate of the damage
- Your proof documents: medical certificates, work stoppages, miscellaneous invoices, findings...
- Your eventual willingness to become a civil party
You can use the following mail template:
File a complaint with the public prosecutor
You can send your complaint by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, by simple letter or by letter followed.
You can also file your complaint directly at the courthouse.
In any case, a receipt is given to you as soon as the Public Prosecutor's Office has registered your complaint.
Online scam
You can file a complaint:
Online (on THESEE)
You can use the THESEE online service to find out if you can file a complaint online.
The complaint about THESEE is forwarded to the National Police for processing.
On the spot
You must surrender in a police station or to the gendarme of your choice.
Police or gendarmerie services are obliged to register your complaint if you are a victim of an offense.
The complaint is then forwarded to the public prosecutor for a decision on further action (investigation, closure without further action...).
If you don't know the perpetrator, you can first fill out a online pre-complaint before you move.
The pre-complaint can be made online:
Then you need to sign your complaint on-site in a police station or a gendarmerie brigade that you choose.
The police or gendarmes already have the elements of your complaint when you arrive.
By mail
You can file a complaint with the public prosecutor.
To do this, you must send an email to the court of law of the place of the offense or of the domicile of the offender.
Who shall I contact
Your mail should include the following:
- Your marital status and full contact information (address and telephone number)
- Detailed account of the facts, date and place of the offense
- Name of the alleged perpetrator if known (otherwise, the complaint will be filed against X)
- Name and address of any witnesses to the offense
- Description and provisional or definitive estimate of the damage
- Your proof documents: medical certificates, work stoppages, miscellaneous invoices, findings...
- Your eventual willingness to become a civil party
You can use the following mail template:
File a complaint with the public prosecutor
You can send your complaint by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, by simple letter or by letter followed.
You can also file your complaint directly at the courthouse.
In any case, a receipt is given to you as soon as the Public Prosecutor's Office has registered your complaint.
Seek compensation
If the perpetrator is prosecuted before the correctional court, you can to be a civil party.
As a civil party, you can be compensated by asking for damages. The compensation can correspond to the amounts defrauded but also repair your eventual non-material damage.
If the perpetrator is found guilty, the court may order him to pay you damages and determine the amount.
Without waiting, you can apply for compensation from the Victims Guarantee Fund.
Fraud is punishable by 5 years of prison and €375,000 of fine.
Maximum penalties are increased to 7 years of prison and €750,000 fines in the following cases:
- The crook takes the identity of a public official
- Con man arranges fake charity fundraising
- The victim is vulnerable (disability, age...)
- The swindler is a public official or a public service official
- The victim is a public body which pays aid or allowances
If the scam was committed in an organized gang, the maximum penalties are 10 years of prison and €1 000 000 of fine.
Of additional penalties may be pronounced. This may be, for example, the confiscation of the thing that has been used to commit the offense (computer, merchandise, etc.), the prohibition of practicing a profession, a prohibition of residence.
Please note
the attempted fraud is punished with the same penalties (for example, if a person impersonates an insurer but fails to obtain money from its victims).
Who can help me?
Find who can answer your questions in your region
Info Scams
By telephone
0 805 805 817
Monday to Friday from 9 am to 6:30 pm.
Toll-free dial-in number (free from the UK).
Telephone administrative information - Allo Public Service
The informants who answer you are from the Department of Justice.
Cost: free service
Service available at the following times:
- Monday: 8.30am to 5.30pm
- Tuesday: 8:30 to 12:15
- Wednesday: 8:30 to 12:15
- Thursday: 8.30am to 5.30pm
- Friday: 1 p.m. to 4:15 p.m
- Lundi : de 08h30 à 17h30
- Mardi : de 08h30 à 12h15
- Mercredi : de 08h30 à 12h15
- Jeudi : de 08h30 à 17h30
- Vendredi : de 13h00 à 16h15
116 006 - Victim Assistance Number
Listen, inform and advise victims of crime and their families.
By telephone
116,006
Free call
Open 7 days a week from 9am to 7pm
The service can also be accessed by calling the +33 (0)1 80 52 33 76 (Normal pricing number).
By email
victimes@france-victimes.fr
Definition of fraud and penalties
Family immunity (applicable to scam)
Filing of complaint
Limitation period
Online service
Online service
Service-Public.fr
Service-Public.fr
Service-Public.fr
Service-Public.fr
Ministry of the Interior
Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF)
Supervisory and Resolution Authority (ACPR)
Supervisory and Resolution Authority (ACPR)
Ministry of Labor
GIP ACYMA (Actions against Cybermalevolence)