French email scams threaten speeding fines and arrest for sex crimes

Two new email scams currently doing the rounds are demanding payment from drivers for fake speeding fines and notifying others that they are under criminal investigation for paedophilia.

Recipients are being advised to flag the email scams on the appropriate websites and not to enter their bank details or download any attachments.

Here are the details of both of them to help you stay safe online -

The speeding ticket scam

Drivers receive an email telling them they are being fined for speeding, which appears to have been sent from ‘AMENDES GOUV’.

It says their car was flashed at 85km/h in a 70km/h zone and that they are therefore liable to pay a fine of €45. It also says they can expect to receive one penalty point on their licence for the offence.

However, it is also important to note that in spite of how official the email may appear - featuring authentic looking logos - these emails are also lacking in some key information.

The emails are generic, which means they do not include the details of your name, or your vehicle, or even specify where the ‘offence’ is supposed to have taken place.

Although it is true that drivers may receive notifications of driving offences by email, these will be sent from ANTAI via "nepasrepondre_noreply@antai.fr.", not " AMENDES GOUV".

The aim of the scam is to send the recipients of these emails to a fake website, where they are encouraged to input their bank details, before their accounts are emptied by fraudsters.

If you think you may have provided your bank details to a fraudulent website, contact your bank immediately.

Afterwards, you can flag the scam on the Signal Scam website to help prevent others from being taken in.

The fake police investigation

Police in Dordogne have warned residents to be on their guard if they receive an email asking them to respond to charges of paedophilia within a certain time limit, or risk arrest.

The emails appear to have been signed by the commander of the gendarmerie and produced on behalf of the commissioner of Europol's Child Protection Unit (Brigade de Protection des Mineurs).

“In no situation does the gendarmerie operate in this way", the gendarmerie has warned.

The aim of these emails is to encourage recipients to download an attachment. What you actually end up downloading is software designed to steal all your personal information.

Recipients are advised not to forward or reply to the email, or open the attachment contained in it. Instead, they should block the email address and report it via the government’s Pharos platform.

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