INFO LA DEPECHE. Near Toulouse, a couple specializing in the vital card scam is in police custody
A 32-year-old man and his 28-year-old wife are currently in custody at the Muret gendarmerie company. The soldiers suspect them of having embezzled €20,000. And they were already to be judged this Wednesday for a scam which had brought them €30,000…
“Please note, your vital card is about to expire”. Reading this message on his mobile phone at the beginning of June Yves (1) did not expect to experience such an ordeal. A couple stole thousands of euros from his bank account. A 32-year-old man and the 28-year-old woman are currently in custody at the Muret gendarmerie. In eight months, the duo is suspected of having received nearly €50,000 from the savings of a dozen victims.
The method used by these counterfeiters is formidable. It all starts with a simple SMS sent to the mobile phones of hundreds of Haut-Garonnés. The scammers pretend to be a health organization and ask their target to click on a link to renew their vital card. Those who are phished by this message land on an innocuous website. A page on which administrators list the surnames, first names and addresses of future victims.
The second part of the scam is even more vicious.
The day after this manipulation, the people who clicked on the SMS received a call from the fraud department. A man or a woman announces to them that they have been victims of a financial scam. With this hoax, the fake police ask and obtain the victims’ bank details to “find the suspects”. The sequel flows naturally. Bank accounts are partially emptied. Some suspects have lost nearly €10,000.
Already caught in March!
After weeks of investigations, the Muret company’s research brigade succeeded in identifying a couple. In March, these inhabitants of Muret had been placed in police custody. Faced with the military, the illusionists had even confessed. According to their statements, they had illicitly obtained €30,000 between January and March 2022. Money was then transferred abroad.
But the end of the interrogations, the parquet floors of Toulouse had taken the decision to release them pending a trial before the criminal court of Toulouse, on August 31.
And two days before the hearing, the criminals talked about them again. They took advantage of this freedom to resume their illegal activity. At least four new victims were recorded between March and August. This time the crooks embezzled €20,000.