They saw their phone bill skyrocket and alerted fraud enforcement. On Tuesday March 21, a business manager was arrested in Marseille, after several alerts to the DGCCRF (General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention), reports France Blue. These users would have been billed large sums after having used the service of the Marseille contractor.
Via his company, he proposes to put users in contact with several organizations, such as the General Directorate of Public Finances. Problem: at no time is it specified that this service uses a premium rate number. Users therefore spend long minutes online, often with queues, for extravagant final billings.
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Premium rate number scams do not weaken
Two million euros in criminal assets seized
On March 21, the head of the company was therefore placed in police custody and then placed under judicial supervision, after the opening of an investigation by the Marseille prosecutor’s office. “This legal procedure for which the investigation is continuing is part of the general framework of the fight against fraud with premium rate numbers constituting the offense of misleading commercial practice punishable by the consumer code with a sentence of two years’ imprisonment. and a maximum fine of 300,000 euros,” the prosecution told France Bleu.
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Premium rate number scams do not weaken
During the searches, the investigators seized nearly two million euros in criminal assets. The company’s profits were valued at more than 2.6 million euros over two years. The repression of fraud reminds us that premium rate numbers are easily identifiable, as they are listed on a dedicated page from the website of the Ministry of the Economy.
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