France launches new online platform for reporting internet scams

A new online platform has been launched by the French government to give the victims of internet scams the opportunity to report the incident without having to go to a police station.

THESEE (traitement harmonisé des enquêtes et signalements pour les e-escroqueries or harmonised processing of inquiries into and reports of online scams), covers around ten different types of internet fraud.

These include: romance scams, scams linked to the sale of goods, the theft of credit card details, property rental fraud, blackmail, ransomware and identity theft among other things.

THESEE was initially due to come into service in 2018, but only began to be trialled in October 2021. When it went live on Wednesday (March 16), the Police nationale stated that people had already used the platform to make reports.

Members of the public can access THESEE through government information page Service-public.fr, where they will be asked to tick the description which applies to their situation.

In order to continue with their report, they will need to log in via FranceConnect, and will then have 30 days in which to finalise their statement.

The report will then be examined by Police nationale and gendarmerie investigation teams, who will get in touch with the person if their complaint has been validated.

A team of 17 police officers and gendarmes will then cross-check the statement with other reports they have received and launch an investigation if appropriate.

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