Until last year, the misadventures recently experienced by 87 board game enthusiasts would undoubtedly have passed under the radar of the police services. All bought on a resale site, used games. Some paid 20 euros, others 50, rarely more. But none received the coveted object. Or else in such poor condition that it was unusable. And when each other tried to contact the seller again, the one was absent subscribers. “Before, there were almost never any investigations into these small scams, quite simply because it was impossible”, estimates the divisional commissioner Cécile Augeraud, at the head of the OCLCTIC, the judicial police office in charge of the fight against cybercrime. In this case, the estimated damage is not negligible: the seller would have pocketed nearly 7,000 euros.
In this file, as in many of the same ilk, the investigators faced a double difficulty. First, that of identifying the victims, because few are those who travel to file a complaint for a few tens or even a hundred euros lost. Then, even when they took the time to push the door of a police station or a police station, that their complaint was transmitted to the parquet floor, this one inevitably ended up being closed without follow-up. “We cannot mobilize investigators for an isolated scam with little damage, explains the divisional commissioner. On the other hand, if we cross-reference the various scams, we can better measure the extent of the phenomenon and we can work on it much more effectively. »
Scams that vary with the seasons
It is with this in mind that was launched last year Theseus*, online platform dedicated to Internet scams. In one year, more than 68,000 complaints and 16,500 reports were collected, so that the number of dedicated OCLCTIC investigators increased from 15 to 32 in a few months. In more than half of the cases, the scams are based on fake sales sites or fake sellers. And depending on the season, they relate to interior fittings, household appliances, garden furniture or barbecues. Seasonal rentals also represent 10% of reports.
Over the course of their investigations into these “small scams”, the investigators discovered particularly organized networks, some established in France, others operating from abroad, particularly in West Africa. “Some fake sales sites are really extremely misleading, with fake online reviews, fake comments that are a matter of professionalism,” notes Cécile Augeraud. And the finer the scam, the greater the number of victims.
Recently more than 1,350 people have been tricked into ordering from a fake furniture site. Estimated total damage: 800,000 euros. Hence the importance of cross-checks between files. “The platform is designed with an analysis tool that automatically cross-checks all complaints or reports. It creates “matches” between the different files, “says the head of the office.
Romance scams
These overlaps are also carried out on much more sensitive cases, in particular “romance” scams: criminals seduce a man or a woman, often isolated, to extract money from them. Twenty-three cases are under investigation. Average damage: 150,000 euros but in some cases, the amounts are even more dizzying. In one of the cases, for example, the victim was robbed of 711,000 euros. “These are people who will sell everything they have, sometimes make loans, to meet the demands of men or women who manipulate them, know how to play on the sensitive chord, illness or the impossibility of coming to join the ‘to be loved’, insists the divisional commissioner.
Behind their screen, the crooks are mostly abroad, sometimes with relays in France. The office currently has several cases in progress in which several victims of the same person have been identified. “There were already investigations in these cases with strong prejudice, but the platform has allowed new victims to file a complaint,” explains Cécile Augeraud. Because in these cases, in which the moral damage is equal to the financial damage, some are uncomfortable with the idea of telling their story and how they got screwed.
The observation is the same in cases of blackmail, especially when they relate to photos or videos of an erotic nature. “The online complaint is a plus, undeniably, believes the head of the OCLCTIC. But when you feel real discomfort, the complainants are systematically recontacted. This is even the rule when the victims are minors: they cannot file a complaint but their reports are taken into account and investigations opened. “We try, when we have teenagers, to push them to talk to their parents about it so that they go and lodge a complaint with them and above all that they do not isolate themselves”.
* To file a complaint or report an online violation on the Thésée platform, click here.