A principal, a fake accountant, a fake salesperson and a straw manager. Three men and a woman were tried on Wednesday November 13, 2024 in Tours for having opened accounts in banks for companies that were not there.
In total, €200,000 was defrauded in 2016 and 2017 from several banks in the Centre-Val de Loire region, but also in the north of France. Among the establishments victims of the maneuver are BNP Paribas, the Caisse d'Epargne and Crédit Lyonnais.
The system appears simple, the expected result quickly profitable: Ruben V., a Spanish national, is called to lend his name to a company while Gulumser C. and Karim L. take care of the false documents. The first is also responsible for setting appointments with the bank and acts as an accountant to reassure the advisors. Hafeez A. gives the orders.
Forged checks
Once the companies are created, it is time to open a bank account. Ruben V., who does not speak French, is presented as an entrepreneur settling in France. Hafeez A. sometimes poses as the business friend, translator. This Pakistani is actually not a Spanish speaker. Ruben V. doesn't understand anything but signs the papers.
Once accounts are opened, checks are promptly deposited. They are either falsified or made of wood, to create the illusion of a credit balance. While the bank verifications are completed, the amounts are transferred to other accounts or withdrawn from the ATM.
Lure of gain
These movements were ultimately used to pay around ten construction employees, in a hidden work system.
On Wednesday evening, sentences of between twelve months suspended prison sentence and eighteen months were handed down against the defendants, all of whom spoke of the lure of easy gain as band-aids placed on financial situations. complicated at the time.
The black robes know it, the system went beyond these four faces. The name of a certain “Ali” was notably mentioned as giving orders to Hafeez A. He has, until now, remained untraceable.
