Internet Fraud - France

While law enforcement agencies, academics, and commercial enterprises in many countries seek to understand the nature and growth of fraud, much, if not most, of the discussion focuses on complaints, news reports, and other materials available in English.  To broaden the picture, we need to seek out materials in other languages, including French, on fraud-related activities.  Here's the first in a continuing series of summaries of news reports in Francophone jurisdictions about fraud:

L'Aisne Nouvelle, April 11: An 18-year-old French girl, Justine, who lived in Saint-Quentin, planned to move to England to improve her command of English. She looked online for jobs, including au pair jobs, and was purportedly contacted by several families, including the "Benson family."  "Mr. Benson" said that he was a doctor, and "Mrs. Benson" a nurse in his private hospital.  He shared with Justine a photo of the two of them and a little girl, but later emails referred to a little boy.  Although Justine reportedly thought she was being deceived, she continued to email the "Bensons" and asked more questions.  The "Bensons" assured her that they only needed a copy of her identity card, so that they could get a work permit for her.  But Justine searched for the "Bensons"' house address on Google Maps, and found that the house numbers on the "Bensons"' street ended below the number that the Bensons had given.  Then, at the parents' request, a family friend who was an English professor intervened, and called a number (apparently an international number) that the "Bensons" had designated.  The person who answered reportedly spoke poor English and had "a strong African accent," but emphasized the importance of sending "the papers."  At that point, the parents halted Justine's efforts to work for the "Bensons."