It is described by many as “a smooth talker”. “He has the answer to everything” even agreed to say Mes Christel Jousse and Pascale Léal, lawyers for the civil parties. By videoconference from Le Craquelin where he is incarcerated, the man is being prosecuted this Wednesday for two scams with the same “nauseating flavor”.
The facts? In September 2021, then July 2022, “you contacted, via a dating site, two women with similar profiles”, explains the president, Christophe Geoffroy. For one living in Les Ulis (Essonne), he is a Formula 1 reserve driver. During the discussions, he explains – with incredible persuasive talent – that he is having difficulties with his bank card. He has to make several purchases and cannot use his own card, asks for the bank details of his interlocutor. This “dives” and validates several transactions: the purchases of a computer, hi-fi headphones, a mobile phone… for a whopping €5,074.
The other victim is embroiled in a difficult divorce. He tells her he “a French-American passport and being a financial director at HSBC”. She is having financial difficulties and he offers to help her by granting her a transfer of €20,000. Via a stratagem using a screenshot, he ended up obtaining the bank details of this second victim. Ultimately, she will never see this sum arrive, but on the contrary, “his account will be debited by €9,000”, regrets the president.
“He phished this woman in distress”
On Wednesday, behind the Craquelin screen, this 25-year-old Castelroussin refutes the term fraud. In the first case, “she wanted to help me because I wanted to start an e-commerce business. She agreed to give me what I consider a loan. » In the second case, “she finally learned of my financial difficulties” and there too, “it was a loan that I could not repay, since I was in prison.”
So many comments that leave magistrates and lawyers doubtful. “What confidence, exclaimed Me Christel Jousse, counsel for the plaintiff pending divorce. My client registered on a Muslim dating site, in order to converse with a man of the same religion and to finalize a real union. At first, he was mainly going to talk to her about religion, then after three to four days, he phishes this woman in distress. » The comments went in the same direction for Me Pascale Léal who defended the other plaintiff. “She wanted to have contact with a man of the same origin and in the end, she was manipulated by this smooth talker. » A fragile woman “who was totally destroyed by this affair”.
For the public prosecutor, “all these fraudulent maneuvers are characterized. On an exchange site, he takes advantage of the weakness of certain women to defraud them. I ask for fifteen months' imprisonment. »
On the defense bench, Me Jérôme Dubois-Dinant was surprised that these women “end up accepting these requests. What were their paths? » Finally, “my client refutes the scam and indeed, the evidence is insufficient. I'm asking for a release. »
The court did not go in this direction, since this “smooth talker” was sentenced to twelve months of imprisonment with continued detention. He will have to pay one of his victims the sum of €5,074, as well as €500 for moral damage and to the other, the sum of €9,423 and €500 for moral damage.
