It was better not to call the phone number that was displayed in the “pop-up” window. The French authorities have dismantled a network of “false computer repair” fraud that has claimed several thousand victims for damage estimated at 1.2 million euros, we learned on Tuesday from a police official. and from judicial sources.
“Initially, your computer receives a fraudulent email, which brings up a window (pop-up) telling you that your computer is blocked. To unlock it, you have to call a company supposedly approved by Microsoft, whose number appears, ”explained the head of the Financial Crimes Division of the Territorial Directorate of the Judicial Police (DTPJ) of Montpellier, Caroline Belda. “If we call this number, we come across a service that closes the pop-up for you, takes control of your computer and makes you pay for its fake repair from a few hundred to 1,800 euros,” she explained.
The dismantling of this network is the result of the joining of two investigations by the cyber section of the Paris prosecutor’s office. The first had been opened in October 2020 following a denunciation for cyber-maliciousness for facts in Montpellier and the second in November 2020 after 148 complaints from individuals.
Companies based in Montpellier and Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
According to the investigations, the same teams managed two companies based in Montpellier (Hérault) and Saint-Dié-des-Vosges (Vosges). The call center was in Tunisia, according to the judicial source. Seven people were arrested in Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales), Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire), Istres and Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône) and in the Paris region, said Caroline Belda.
Six of them were indicted on November 24 for “fraud, attempted fraud in an organized gang, criminal association, offenses related to the STAD (automated data processing system) and laundering of fraud in an organized gang” , according to the judicial source. Three were remanded in custody and three under judicial control.
Trapped twice
According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, the damage is estimated at 1.2 million euros for 4,000 identified victims. Out of 2,200 potential victims contacted by the Montpellier PJ, 884 replied in the affirmative and 534 filed a complaint, said Caroline Belda, advising to find out about the official platform www.cybermalveillance.gouv.fr.
The Paris prosecutor’s office also points out that some victims of the first false computer repair say they have received a message stating that the courts have condemned the company and asking them to send a bank account statement (RIB) to obtain compensation. Some people, especially the elderly, have been trapped a second time.