Online and text scams: France plans warning system to prevent fraud
One-in-two people in France have been the victim of an internet scamming attempt, according to French government figures
The new filter will aim to stop people from logging on to fraudulent sites in the first place, and cut off SMS and email scams 鈥榓t the root鈥�, the minister said
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The French government wants to create an online 鈥榓nti-fraud鈥� filter to protect people from being the victim of email and text message scams
France鈥檚 Minister for Digital Transition, Jean-No毛l Barrot, said he wanted it to be simple and free for users, writing about the idea in the .
The bill for the system is set to be presented to the cabinet on Wednesday (May 10) and will be studied by parliament before the summer. Mr Barrot is aiming to have the system in place before September.
He wrote: 鈥淲ho hasn鈥檛 received an SMS inviting you to log in to your CPF (personal training credits) or Ameli (health insurance) account, so [scammers] can steal your personal data or bank details?鈥�
He said that 50% of people in France have been 鈥渢he victim of an internet scamming attempt鈥� and that his plan would aim to 鈥渃ut off the problem at its root鈥�.
The anti-fraud filter is intended to 鈥渨arn the user at the moment when they are about to connect to a site that has been identified as negative. It will take the form of a message that will appear between the user and the internet site, to avoid them being taken victim鈥�, Mr Barrot wrote.
The aim is to help users in advance, rather than after they log in (as usually happens now).
Mr Barrot said the goal is to 鈥渆nd massive SMS fraud campaigns and restore the confidence of our citizens online鈥�.
The filter will also work for companies and larger organisations and 鈥渁s a barrier against the theft of data鈥�, he said.
Scams over email and SMS are common in France.
Some of the most recent include a scam inviting people to click a link to save on their energy bills. Others include emails that appear to come from popular websites, scams that ask you to pay money to have a parcel delivered, and emails saying you need to renew your carte Vitale or 颁谤颈迟鈥橝颈谤 car sticker.
Anyone who believes they have been a victim of an internet scam in France can report it to the new service, THESEE (traitement harmonis茅 des enqu锚tes et signalements pour les e-escroqueries or uniform processing of inquiries into and reports of online scams).
Read more: France launches new online platform for reporting internet scams
However, SMS and email are not the only ways that fraud spreads; last month police also warned about a telephone scam that involves scammers pretending to be police officers investing fraud on Transcash cards.
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