The Help for Victims of Influencers collective has brought together dozens of people claiming to have been defrauded by the couple Marc and Nadé Blata, as well as by former reality TV candidate Dylan Thiry. Several complaints have just been filed with the Paris prosecutor’s office.
They call them “influencers”. For several months, members of the Aid for Victims of Influencers (AVI) collective – publicly supported by rapper Booba – have been gathering incriminating evidence against personalities with millions of subscribers on social networks. They suspect them of having defrauded hundreds of individuals with deceptive trading practices or through online jackpots.
Class actions, bringing together 88 plaintiffs, have been filed in Paris for fraud in an organized gang and breach of trust in an organized group, the AVI announced on Monday during a press conference.
“In the complaints against X, elements target the couple Marc and Nadé Blata for copy-trading and an NFT project, explains to BFMTV.com the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Me Jocelyn Ziegler. “As for Dylan Thiry, he is targeted by a complaint for fraud and breach of trust for having embezzled money raised with his association For our children.
And to clarify: “If complaints have been filed against X, it is so that justice can conduct the widest possible investigation and possibly prosecute other influencers.”
Damage estimated at more than 6 million euros
Among the scams denounced, the NFT Animoon project, promoted by Marc Blata and other influencers on their social networks. They offer their subscribers to buy NFT (non-fungible token) and promise that the investment will bring them significant gains.
Animoon notably highlights images featuring the graphics of brands like Pokémon. “The project uses brands that have subsequently denied any partnership,” comments Me Ziegler. “There are only empty promises. Those who invested have never obtained any profits or recovered their money. The amount of the scam is estimated at more than 6 million euros”, continues- he.
Contacted by BFMTV.com, Marc Blata refutes this accusation. “The project came out about a year ago,” says the influencer based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. “In the meantime, there was the financial crisis and deflation.”
“At one point, investors could have taken money, but they were too greedy, they preferred to wait to inflate their stake and lost,” he says. “If prices go up again, they can still make a profit.”
As for the fact of selling images of Pokémon without the agreement of the brand, he retorts: “I am not the founder of Animoon, I am not responsible. It is not written anywhere that these are Pokémon, it looks like it, that’s all. I still believe in this project which is true and concrete.”
The influencer, who shows off his success with luxury cars, high-end watches and dreamy landscapes, also offers his 4.2 million Instagram followers to earn money through “copy -trading”. A strategy that would allow, thanks to signals, to reproduce the activity of an experienced trader.
“More than 85% of trades are positive, that is to say that at the end of the month, you are still positive”, encourages Marc Blata on his social networks. “What are you waiting for?”
Mel* sees Marc Blata’s many stories scroll by and finds the proposal attractive. “It’s not that I’m in need! I didn’t expect to earn millions… Just a little money to make a good restaurant or buy presents for my daughter,” he tells us. she.
“He kept repeating: ‘Stop sleeping’, to push us to invest and generate profits”, recalls the forties.
In February 2022, Mel ended up clicking on the link that sent her to a Telegram group managed by Marc Blata. She follows his instructions and registers on a trading platform to invest, the minimum starting bet then being 500 euros. “I exchange with Nadé (the companion of Marc Blata, editor’s note) by messages, she gives me instructions, the signals to follow, she is reassuring”, explains Mel. But very quickly, the mother loses her 500 euros.
“Nadé tells me that I made mistakes in the trades, that I didn’t follow his instructions exactly and that’s why I lost my bet. So I tried my luck again… “Again, Mel loses 500 euros.
“There I understood that there was a scam and that we could not make money with their shenanigans”, she annoys.
“I am not a trader, but I have credibility”
Problem: trading platforms – well known to influencers – offer little expertise or investment strategy, argues Ziegler, accusing influencers of “false promotions” and “dummy financial investment advice”.
The total amount of the damage is, there too, estimated at more than 6 million euros, according to Me Jocelyn Ziegler. In this operation, the Blata couple pocket part of each client’s investment via a sponsorship and retrocommission system.
For his part, Marc Blata defends himself from any fraud. “Copy-trading is a legal activity,” he insists. “But it’s not without risk, and you have to know how to be patient, it’s not a game”, he explains to BFMTV.com with more precautions than when he presents it on his social networks.
“I am not a trader but I have reached a certain level that allows me to be credible. When I send the signals of professional traders, they have to be followed to the minute. The problem is that people do it in a hurry and miss their trades. It’s a risky area, you have to be diligent,” he argues.
The Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) notes a significant upsurge in complaints in this sector.
Mel, who is part of the class action brought by AVI, hopes “that the light will be shed so that no one else falls into the trap”.
“The impact of these scams is sometimes catastrophic”, blow Eddy * and Soso *, members of the AVI collective. “Some have lost more than 3000 euros. There are very serious financial and psychological consequences.”
Donations for diverted children?
Eddy and Soso worked for many months to collect elements against Marc and Nadé Blata, and also have in their sights Dylan Thiry, a former reality TV candidate converted into humanitarian aid. The tall blond, known for promoting of a dietary supplement that “cures cancer cells” (sic), created in 2021 the association Pour nos enfants.
Through trips to Madagascar or Senegal, the young man helps children and their families, and documents his actions on his social networks. He multiplies calls for donations to “build houses”, “roofs”, “wells” or “buy swings”.
“No one has ever become poor by giving!” he wrote on Instagram.
But for several months, Internet users have been demanding explanations on the use of the funds collected. “The money was collected for actions that were never carried out,” Eddy claims. “Kapties have been closed without it being known what the sums have become. Worse still, pots have been launched even though the association had been dissolved.”
The dissolution of the association was indeed published in the Official Journal on November 29for a cessation of activity from November 15, 2022. If the website of the association Pour nos enfants has been deleted, Dylan Thiry continues to feed his Instagram and Tiktok pages with many videos of his humanitarian trips.
In the midst of controversy, Dylan reacted in a video of gossip room concerning a kitty intended to help Senegalese families.
“Of course the entire kitty was used in Senegal,” defends the influencer.
“And I even used my own pocket (…) for bottles of water, 8000 euros went to a Koranic school”, he adds. “I would go to an African country to use the poor to get rich? (…) When you are clean… I know that nothing will happen to me.”
The collective action initiated on Monday by the AVI collective will allow justice to shed light on these various actions. “This is the first time that influencers have been the target of complaints in the field of finance. We hope that this will allow the victims to obtain compensation. And that this will lead to stricter supervision of the profession of influencer”, concludes Me Jocelyn Ziegler.
* The first names have been changed, at the request of the interested parties.
