AFP - "The problem is not just aimed at the elderly and landline telephones," said Cédric Musso, of the consumer NGO UFC Que Choisir.
A few months ago, 83-year-old Georgette Guideau went to a health insurance agency near her home in Haute-Garonne after receiving a call from someone pretending to be a social security agent.
"You really have to be careful. My granddaughter tells me to stop answering numbers I don't know," she said.
The octogenarian was approached by malicious con artists in 2021 when she signed up for a supposedly cheaper electricity contract after receiving a call.
An agent from the fake company then went to her home to "install" a box on her electricity meter, changed all the light bulbs, and billed her for the whole thing.
In 2022, 47,620 consumers reported being victims of abusive canvassing to the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control DGCCRF.
"Soliciting" and "off-premises sales" represented the second largest category of fines issued by the DGCCRF, amounting to almost €3.5 million in 2022.
Getting round the law
However Romain Bonenfant, director general of the Fédération Française des Télécoms – which brings together all the major French telephone operators – said legislation regarding soliciting was being tightened.
In 2020 the so-called Naegelen law was adopted. It regulates telephone canvassing and leads the fight against fraudulent callers by setting up dedicated time slots for calls, banning canvassing in the field of energy renovation or training, and regulating how people are approached.
For example, a direct seller may not call a customer back within 60 days of the call if the customer refuses to be re-contacted.
In September 2022, the French Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority ARCEP launched a new numbering plan to regulate the numbers used by automated systems so people who have been ripped off can easily trace the call.
Consumers can also register with Bloctel – a service provided by the DGCCRF – which prohibits any professional from canvassing a consumer on the list.
However, in the face of this persistent phenomenon, the Fraud Department acknowledges that "some people registered on Bloctel are still reporting unsolicited calls because "despite the undeniable progress made by professionals in complying with the regulations, some unscrupulous people are trying to get round the law."
Fraud techniques 'evolving'
Meanwhile, the Banque de France warned on Thursday that although the fraud rate on card payments reached its lowest level in 2022 at 0.99 percent, manipulative fraud techniques are developing at an annual rate of 27 percent.
According to Alexandre Stervinou, Director of Payment Studies and Monitoring at the Banque de France: "This is an important area to watch out for," regarding new types of scams, which are estimated to cost a total of €340 million in 2022.
Most often, the scam involves identity theft: "The fraudster pretends to be the target's bank adviser and asks them to provide their bank details," explains Julien Lasalle, deputy to Alexandre Stervinou.
This circumvents the security provided by sophisticated IT mechanisms such as dual authentication. "This is one of our main difficulties today," he underlines.
Lasalle insists that this type of scam makes it possible to obtain personal data – or even the bank details needed for a transaction – without the knowledge of the victims, who belong to "all socio-professional categories".
Although the Naegelen law is supposed to regulate telephone soliciting and reduce the range of possibilities for fraudsters, the Banque de France laments "delays" in its application, "due to a high level of technical complexity".
Until that time when the Naegelen law is fully applied, the Banque de France is stressing that consumers need to adopt a "prudent attitude" to protect against scams.
Overall, the Banque de France has counted 7.2 million fraudulent transactions in 2022, worth a total of €1.2 billion, all types of fraud combined.