Patrick* describes himself as a “suspicious” person. “As soon as my wife receives a message from the tax office or a summons from the gendarmerie… I know it’s false, and above all I tell her not to click on the link,” he explains to us almost proudly. But last November, it was he who was fooled.
This 75-year-old retiree was the victim of a now common scam, that of the fake package. The process remains the same… But the bill is particularly steep for Patrick. “I was expecting a simple package, a white t-shirt, nothing important. I received a message that seemed to come from Mondial Relay. It had everything, the logo, perfect syntax… I was asked to pay extra to receive it. It wasn’t even 5 euros…”
This resident of the Paris region, without warning, enters his bank card and some information such as his cell phone number. “It all started from there,” he regrets today. The next day, he received a phone call that cost him 3,500 euros. The small parcel scam turns into a big bank scam.
“I did everything he asked of me without flinching”
On the other side of the line, a man told him he belonged to “the fraud department” of his bank. Card number, file number… Everything coordinates. Patrick falls for it. “He alerted me saying that a cryptocurrency account had been opened in Ivory Coast in my name. He wanted to check if there had been other withdrawals, and to protect my account. »
The scammer will then use his victim’s fear to extort as much money as possible. “He asked me to open a new emergency account to put all my money. I did it. He also asked me to go and draw some cash to deposit it in the bank in this account,” relates the retiree.
The individual will even try to attack the account of the victim’s wife, fortunately without success due to a problem with an identity document that Patrick could not send.
-All this, without ever hanging up on the line. “The phone call lasted almost 4 hours. Even when I went to deposit money at the bank, I had it on the line. I did absolutely everything he asked of me without flinching. I was stupid all the way. It’s unimaginable everything I’ve done…”
No complaints possible
The electroshock will take place at the end of the afternoon just after hanging up. “It’s as if I had been hypnotized by Messmer,” says the retiree, still impressed by the quality of the scam. I had so much confidence, the man appeared so calm, he spoke French so well. The moment I hung up, I woke up and smelled the scam. »
The day after the call, Patrick will contact his bank first thing – the real one this time – to block his accounts and prevent further transfers. “It’s my only good deed because I could have lost even more,” he concedes.
Feeling “guilty” himself – “I did everything myself, I entered the codes myself, sent the money myself” – the 75-year-old retiree refused to file a complaint: “I took it as a punishment. » But now wants to raise awareness. “The goal is for my story to be useful for others. » These 3,500 euros will therefore never reappear.
*The first name has been changed. Still suspicious after the events, the victim did not wish to provide more precise information on the bank concerned.
