Remember. In October 2024, the Paris prosecutor's office indicated that “the Free database, covering 19.2 million French customers, including 5.11 million including an IBAN number, was put up auction by a hacker on A cybercriminal forum ”. There are more pleasing news.
The flight case of the Free Data Database
The hacker, a minor of the age of 17, was arrested and then indicted. According to information from France Info, he acknowledged in front of the investigators having received the modest sum of 10,000 euros or half of the price for the sale of the database, since the sum of 20,000 euros had been noted for the entire by police in view of discord on Discord.
A case that is cold in the back which could have consequences on different forms of attempted scams such as identity theft, diversion of mobile telephone line …
According to a report published at the end of October, Cybermalvence.gouv suggests monitoring your bank account and being suspicious of suspicious telephone calls and alerting its operator in the event of prolonged connection loss.
Consequences for everyone
The government's site also stipulates that for its part, Free had obligations following this hacking, in particular that of individually warning the persons concerned by this violation of personal data. Free has filed a complaint and reported this incident to the CNIL (National Commission for Data Protection).
But apparently, this is not enough, and the scammers currently using the data sold have been able to make their way to new scams. Contacted by the Norma media, Pierre, a customer from Revolut, says they were woken up in the middle of the night with a phone number starting with “01”.
How to avoid scams
It is a “banking advisor” who calls him by informing him that samples from his bank account have been taken, from a casino located in Germany, that to verify that nothing has been transferred, he must know The exact sum of the stone bank account. All explained in a clear voice, with pedagogy and professionalism …
Whether malicious spam or scams, there are very simple methods to avoid being fooled:
- Do not recall a phone number that indicates coming from abroad or an SMS that invites you to send an SMS to a paid number
- Use an inverted directory of numbers in case of doubt, such as infosva.org
- In general, offer a suspicious bank advisor to contact you by another channel.
With an unwavering passion for local news, Christopher leads our editorial team with integrity and dedication. With over 20 years’ experience, he is the backbone of Wouldsayso, ensuring that we stay true to our mission to inform.
