France's banking and insurance watchdog, the ACPR (Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution), is warning the public about fraudulent offers of credit, savings books, payment services and insurance. Scams and attempted scams from sites offering credit or savings products have exploded in 2020, while French people's savings have increased due to the pandemic and successive confinements.
Increase in the number of fraudulent websites targeting the savings market
2020 was a record year for savings in France. In the midst of the health crisis, the French put aside up to 200 billion euros. It has to be said that, between the confinement and the curfew, they were less tempted to spend their money, particularly on leisure activities. Livret A passbook savings accounts andlife insurance remain the preferred investments for these precautionary savings.
Scams of all kinds have also flourished with the health crisis. On January 13, 2021, the ACPR unveiled the figures from its analysis of fraudulent sites. In all, more than 1,081 entities were added to its blacklist, more than double the number from the previous year. These sites are not always easy to spot, as fraudsters' techniques are constantly evolving.
According to the French banking and insurance supervisor, this phenomenon can be explained by the increased mobilization of the authorities in the face of the upsurge in financial services fraud, as well as by the context of the health crisis.
A non-exhaustive blacklist
Internet users need to redouble their vigilance in the face of an ever-growing number of sites that impersonate banking establishments or insurers in order to appear legitimate. Over 40% of the sites identified by the ACPR in 2020 used this technique to extract personal information from savers.
The blacklist of scammers is available on the ACPR website. However, the authority points out that it is not exhaustive, as hundreds of unauthorized sites regularly appear on the Internet. It advises users to systematically consult the Regafi register of financial agents, which lists all insurers authorized in France or holding a European passport, as well as the website of ORIAS, the body responsible for the single register of insurance, banking and finance intermediaries.
1 billion euros in losses in two years
In a statement published in September 2019, the Paris public prosecutor's office, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) and the ACPR note that financial scams are synonymous with considerable losses for savers, estimated at over €1 billion between 2017 and 2019. According to the AMF, victims of all types of scams tend to be the over-50s and retirees.
This is due in particular to greater wealth, greater availability and certain vulnerability factors such as family isolation or the need to socialize. The authorities are urging these groups to be particularly cautious, and to systematically check the reliability of the products on offer.