Being in education my son has to use an official site for a lot of correspondence etc. For the second time in a year he has just received an email accusing him of being a paedophile in one of the Paris suburbs to which he has never been to nor does he live near. The first time he reported the email to the gendarmerie who said hundreds of people were getting them and not to worry as if he was one of these perverts, they would have been round long ago to sort himout. Still a nasty and upsetting to receive though, makes you wonder what sort of people do these things!
2 Likes
Is it one of those “pay a fine and it will go away” type of things?
These scams are coming by SMS and email… I agree, they are horrible to receive.
There are some nasty/strange people about…
Gendarmes et al … are aware that these horrid scams are doing the rounds… have been for several months if I recall correctly…
Best advice is to delete immediately, certainly not clicking on anything… then have a cuppa (or something stronger)… and relax…
1 Like
@Shiba, anyone who hasn’t received one of those emails is a lucky rarity.
3 Likes
There’s another along the lines of “oh look so and so has died I think he’s a friend of yours isn’t he” and then you’re meant to click on the link and bingo you get a virus. I got it the other day and it was fake as fake can be.
1 Like
Yeah, I have received a few of these too. Plus emails telling me in advance that I was going to be arrested… which I found very thoughtful of the Police Nationale to advise me in advance.
There’s also a lot of Qishing (ugh, I hate that name) or “QR code phishing” going on too. People are having fake parking fines stuck to their car windscreens with a QR code to a site to pay the fine… except it’s a fraudulent site run by the scammers.
1 Like
Just when I thought the UK was falling apart, I now realise most of the world is on a similar path. 
1 Like
We get them every 6 months or so.
Absolutely horrible.
Good shout. QR codes can exploit security weaknesses in smartphones, so never scan anything that you’re not sure is 100% legit.
3 Likes
Yes these are fairly common - another variation is an email from some oik who claims to have been “recording all your computer activity” and who demands payment in Bitcoin to avoid them sending the incriminating videos to friends and family.
I’m sure my friends and family would just be bored silly if they got sent copies of the stuff I watch online - mostly obscure 70s rock bands, people restoring old motorcycles and doing up houses in France! 
4 Likes
I have gotten similar emails or the parking fine ones, one or two a month over the last few years it’s pretty boring now