Padrino": the mysterious godfather in Morocco who emptied bank accounts in France

This is a vast case of fraud through social engineering that is currently being examined by the French justice system. The defendants are accused of having operated according to a well-rehearsed scenario, playing on fear and urgency to manipulate their victims, as reported by France 3 Régions.

On Bladi.net: Fraud with a fake banker: These networks operating from Morocco and looting accounts in France

The modus operandi generally began with an alarming text message reporting a supposed fraudulent purchase. The victim, invited to contact a number displaying a local area code (01), would reach a fake agent from the fraud department of their bank. The latter would persuade them to neutralize their bank card by placing it in an envelope, before dispatching a fake courier to their home to retrieve it.

Once in possession of the card and the confidential code, the perpetrators would empty the accounts through ATM withdrawals or the purchase of valuable equipment. In total, the investigation has linked 148 similar incidents committed across France between April 2022 and April 2023.

The organization of the network has proven to be particularly structured, adopting a pyramidal functioning. While the "couriers" and intermediaries (the defendants) were mainly domiciled in the Yvelines department, all operations were presumably commissioned and directed from Morocco. At the head of this scam, a ringleader, referred to by the evocative pseudonym "padrino" ("godfather" in Italian), managed the calls via internet solutions to mask the geographical origin of the communications.

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This case illustrates the explosion of "manipulation" fraud in France. According to the Banque de France, since the strengthening of the security of online payments, scammers have no choice but to manipulate the customer directly to bypass the protections. This type of fraud, which affects all profiles (students, retirees, executives), represented a total loss of 382 million euros in 2024.