In its annual report, the joint insurance-banking-savings unit of the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR) and the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) highlights the considerable increase in the number of fraudulent financial products, particularly bogus savings books.
Fraudulent passbooks promising high returns
According to the Pôle commun assurance-banque-épargne of the ACPR and AMF, the health crisis has been conducive to a boom in scams. The number of fraudulent sites has doubled in one year, rising from 1,200 at the end of 2019 to 2,400 at the end of 2020.
The scammers took advantage of a situation that was favorable to them, namely "home savers with free time and surplus savings". These savers were then approached to make various supposedly lucrative investments, whether in wine or gold, "presented as safe havens", or in real estate, with a series of scams involving "bogus real estate investment trusts (SCPI), parking spaces or even rooms in accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (EHPAD)".
In addition, many savers have been offered fraudulent savings accounts, supposedly guaranteeing high returns.
False alternatives to Livret A savings accounts
Since the start of the pandemic, the French have saved 142 billion euros more than they would have done, excluding the health crisis, over the same period. Most of this surplus savings has been invested in Livret A passbook savings accounts, which remain as popular as ever despite very low interest rates.
The flexibility offered by this passbook is tailored to the needs of today's savers, who want to be able to put their money aside while reserving the possibility of withdrawing it at any time should the worst happen.
This attraction to the Livret A has not escaped the attention of fraudsters, who have jumped at the chance to offer fraudulent savings accounts, presented as more profitable alternatives to the Livret A, while offering the same flexibility.
For those who fall into the trap, the average financial loss is 40,000 euros. More often than not, this money is lost for good: legal proceedings are extremely lengthy, and generally do not lead to full recovery of the funds paid in.
To achieve their ends more easily, scammers don't hesitate to impersonate financial investment advisors or asset managers- companies known to savers, who therefore place their unsuspecting trust in them.
In its 2020 activity report, the joint insurance-banking-savings unit of the ACPR and AMF also noted a new development: the elderly remain the preferred targets of fraudsters, but they are not the only ones. New profiles have emerged, falling victim to these scams despite a good knowledge of financial products.