They are suspected of having laundered more than 38 million euros from the largest “president scam” recorded in France: eight men were arrested in the Paris region and in Israel in an investigation that required significant European cooperation.
When the online scam rises to the rank of literature
“The President Scam” is a scam whose modus operandi consists in usurping the identity of the manager of a company to convince an employee to carry out a false transfer order. The six suspects arrested in France, in June 2022 and last January, have been released without prosecution at this stage, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Regarding the two arrests in Israel, no extradition request has been made at this stage, according to a source familiar with the matter.
A total of 3.9 million euros in criminal assets, including 700,000 euros in cryptocurrencies, could be seized, according to a French police source.
The case starts in December 2021, when the accountant of the Parisian real estate developer Sefri-Cime receives a call. At the end of the line, a man who pretends to be a lawyer from a large law firm. The scammer pretends “a confidential company takeover operation”, all with the agreement of the president of the company, explains to AFP the commissioner Vincent Kozierow, head of the Brigade of the frauds with the means of payment (BFMP) of the Parisian judicial police. To make the scenario more credible, the accountant immediately receives an email usurping the identity of the CEO, which confirms that the operation is carried out at his request.
Identity theft
In total, more than 40 transfers will be made in a few weeks for a total amount of 38 million euros, a record in France. Management ends up detecting the scam and files a complaint with the police station in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, the group’s headquarters.
During the same period, a metallurgy company in Haute-Marne was also the victim of a “president scam” for a loss of 300,000 euros. The modus operandi is similar: a man impersonating the boss of the company calls the accountant and asks him to make a transfer to a Hungarian account for a secret financial operation.
the crook “had insisted with the accountant not to tell anyone and thus isolate him”, reports to AFP Colonel Jean-Paul Douviers, commander of the research section of Reims, in charge of the investigation after the complaint of the company. The gendarmes and the police understand very quickly, thanks to the exploitation of the telephone lines, that they are dealing with the same team.
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Their two cases are then combined in a single investigation for fraud in organized gangs and laundering of fraud in organized gangs in particular, under the authority of the financial section of the National Jurisdiction for the fight against organized crime (Junalco).
Investigations into bank flows take investigators to much of Europe, particularly Spain, Portugal, Croatia and Hungary, where the funds passed through various bank accounts opened under false identities and in the name of companies. fictitious. The police of these different countries, particularly Portuguese and Spanish, join the French police and gendarmes, under the aegis of Europol, and carry out painstaking work.
Identify scammers
To unmask these “bank mules” hidden behind assumed names, the investigators used facial recognition software to identify them in a police file – the TAJ, processing of criminal records -, the scammers having often left their real photos on the false papers .
“This is a significant file by the very strong prejudice and its important international dimension”underlines the head of the BFMP, adding that the investigation is not over.
The previous record in France dates back to 2013 with the Vallourec group, relieved of 23 million euros. False transfer order scams (FOVI), or president scams, appeared around 2010 and multiplied with the development of the internet. “We are dealing with people who are smooth talkers, experienced and very well informed about the activities of the targeted companies”underlines Colonel Douviers.
To protect themselves, companies must systematize the “double check” before the validation of transfers and make their employees aware of “beware of hidden numbers, check email headers and always ask for a call back”he adds.
