France: Premium-Rate Call Scheme in Val-de-Marne

A May 15 article in leParisien.com reported on an extensive fraud scheme targeting the Val-de-Marne department of the Île-de-France region. According to leParisien, the scheme combines the use of fraudulent delivery notices left in people's mailboxes, and premium-rate telephone numbers.  The notices, which purport to be from Chronodex, are addressed to recipients by name, informing them that a package is available for pickup.  The notice also bear a date and hour of delivery, like those included in postal service notices.  To obtain the purported package, the person is informed that he or she must call a number listed on the notice, specifying that the rate per call is €1.34.  When the caller places the call to that number, however, a voicemail at that number makes the person wait -- unknowingly, running up the cost of the call at a premium rate of €0.34 per minute.  Eventually, the voicemail informs the caller that a technical error "prevents us from responding to your request."  The caller must then place another call, thereby starting the premium-rate process again.
While Val-de-Marne was originally targeted, the article also indicated that victims are reporting the same scam from southeastern and eastern suburbs of Paris, such as Maisons-Alfort, Joinville-le-Pont, La Queue-en-Brie, Le Plessis-Trévise, and Saint-Maurice.  In addition, the scam appears to have reached the Paris region, including other departments in the Île-de-France region such as Seine-et-Marne and Les Hauts-de-Seine.  Some victims have reported the scam to their local police station, and the file on the scam has been transmitted to the Val-de-Marne police.