Five people were indicted Thursday in Paris on suspicion of using an IMSI-catcher, a surveillance system used by intelligence services, for a fraudulent Health Insurance SMS scam, we learned on Saturday from concordant sources.
This investigation, carried out within the scope of the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime (Junalco), was opened after a complaint was filed in September for fraud by a telecommunications company before the Operations Division of the Gendarmerie Command in Cyberspace (ComCybergend), according to a press release from the gendarmerie.
The investigators then suspect that “a team of criminals” uses “in a vehicle circulating in Île-de-France, a false base station (IMSI-Catcher)”, a device that is often used by intelligence or police services to intercept data. connection in a certain area.
More than 400,000 people affected
In total, between September 2022 and February 2023, “more than 400,000 people” were affected by receiving a fraudulent SMS, General Marc Boget, commander of the gendarmerie in cyberspace, told AFP.
The SMS invited them to “update their personal data by clicking on a link that directs them to a site that usurps that of Health Insurance,” added the gendarmerie.
On December 30, 2022, during a roadside check, police arrested a driver in Paris who had an IMSI receiver in his vehicle. But in the course of their investigations, the gendarmes understood that several such devices were actually used for this scam.
A second was discovered Tuesday. He was in an old ambulance that circulated through the northern and western suburbs of Paris, General Marc Boget said.
These devices can be found for “sale on the dark web,” the general explained.
Six people identified, five arrested
A total of six people have been identified by investigators. Five were arrested Tuesday.
On Thursday, the suspects were prosecuted in particular for fraud and attempted fraud in an organized gang, unauthorized possession of a technical device intended to capture computer data, and for accessing and maintaining an automated data processing system (STAD ), indicated for his part the parquet floor of Paris.
Three were in pretrial detention and two under judicial supervision. The investigations continue.
Source: BFM TV
