French authorities report rising crypto scams with €500M annual losses. Study shows young men most vulnerable as AI-powered fraud tactics grow sophisticated.
The French authorities have revealed a continuous increase in crypto scams. According to the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office, victims of financial fraud in France are estimated to lose at least €500 million annually.
Based on the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution’s (ACPR) research, the average financial loss per victim from scams in the first three quarters of 2024 was €69,000 for false savings accounts and €19,000 for false loans. Also, since the second half of 2023, many scams have involved crypto assets. Meanwhile, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) reported that the overall average loss from all types of scams by the end of November 2024 was €29,000.
A survey of 5,001 people by BVA Xsight for the AMF revealed that 3.2% of French adults had lost money due to fraudulent activities involving financial investments between September 2 and 16, 2024. Men under 35 are said to be the most likely victims, with 45% of them falling prey to these fraudulent activities. A common characteristic of those who fall into this fraud scheme is that they often believe they are knowledgeable about investments and tend to be overconfident when faced with unrealistic offers.
According to the authorities, the new method used in scamming potential victims involves employing convincing arguments to entice them into investing in “guaranteed high-yield investments” that promise easy wealth. The fraudsters also trick people into approving transactions or providing their login details by pretending to help stop fraud.
Malicious actors are also devising more sophisticated tricks, such as impersonating the physical characteristics of celebrities using fake videos and press articles, often with the help of AI. Some even post fake ads pretending to be real companies to trick people into investing in scams. The authorities revealed:
“The scammers’ modus operandi is becoming more sophisticated. Fake videos and press articles are used to replicate the physical characteristics of celebrities, sometimes using artificial intelligence (AI). These celebrities then inadvertently reveal the source of their wealth, obtained thanks to an alleged crypto-asset trading offer, which turns out to be a complete scam. Some scammers go so far as to use the reputation of certain newspapers by posting ads or promotional press releases for false investment offers which impersonate existing companies.”
A new scamming technique, still in its initial stage, is called “square fraud” or “scam on scam.” In this scheme, someone who was scammed by a fake crypto site is contacted by a person pretending to be from a public authority, offering to help recover lost money—for a fee.
It was reported that the number of complaints has reduced, possibly because people are using civil compensation schemes or law firms are grouping complaints. The authority stated that preventing scams is the best way to combat them. Thus, it has launched several awareness campaigns aimed at educating people not to fall for quick-rich schemes offered by fraudsters.
Temitope is a writer with more than four years of experience writing across various niches. He has a special interest in the fintech and blockchain spaces and enjoy writing articles in those areas. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in linguistics. When not writing, he trades forex and plays video games.
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