What is the parking scam with charging stations?

This scam, which is based on investment in car parks equipped with electric charging stations, has already claimed several victims.

A revealing case study

60 million consumers reported the case of Nicolas, a 28-year-old young man, recently the victim of this scam. It all started innocuously when he scanned a QR code in an advertisement in Capital magazine. This announcement, strategically published in the “Investments, take advantage of brand new opportunities” guide in the January issue, led him to fill out an online form, thus sowing the seeds of his future misadventure. The magazine, for its part, later published its mea culpa, promising to ensure that this type of ad is no longer found in its pages. Unfortunately, the damage was done for Nicolas.

The scammers waited several months after the scam was published in specialist magazines to reconnect with their victims. It was only on July 2 that the young man received a call from a woman introducing herself as “advisor of EDF PEI”, a very real subsidiary of EDF. With apparent professionalism, she presented him with an investment described as “secure, very profitable and tax-free”. To establish her credibility, she sent him a detailed presentation, a carefully crafted document that impersonated EDF PEI and mentioned partnerships with renowned companies in the parking sector, such as Q-Park, Vinci and Indigo.

Very attractive returns

The investment offer offered particularly attractive returns, which could appeal to different investor profiles depending on their budget:

• 6.24% for an investment of 19,600 euros (equivalent to 6 charging stations)
• 6.96% for an investment of 49,800 euros (9 terminals)
• An impressive return of 9.39% for the wealthiest, with an investment of 578,250 euros (250 terminals)

These figures, well above the usual returns on safe investments, had the desired effect. Seduced by these tempting promises and reassured by the apparent legitimacy of the offer, Nicolas took the plunge: on July 22, he made a transfer of 19,600 euros to a Treezor account, a subsidiary of Société Générale, thinking he had seized a golden opportunity.

Disillusionment

It was only by reading the mea culpa published by Capital that the victim became aware of the extent of the scam of which she had just been the target. Unfortunately, a huge part of the funds were actually lost: Nicolas reported the fraud to his bank, but the bank was only able to recover 275 euros when trying to recover the transfer. This is all that was left on the scammers’ account, a fraudulent account opened in the name of a company in Eastern France, itself a victim of identity theft. The scammers were therefore able to make the money disappear very quickly.

EDF, for its part, confirmed to 60 million consumers the fraudulent nature of the offer: “EDF PEI’s activity consists of the production of energy in island areas. The company does not offer any investment services and has no relationship with the general public”.

A growing fraud

Far from being an isolated case, this scam is part of a broader trend. Fraudulent advertisements for these dubious investments have experienced a significant resurgence since the beginning of July, after a first wave observed between last December and January. These are not confined to traditional media but are invading the digital space. They appear in search engine results, on social media news feeds as sponsored posts, and on some news sites.

The AMF, aware of the threat, had already issued a warning in January following several reports. However, the persistence and evolution of these advertisements, particularly their proliferation online, demonstrate the difficulty in stopping the phenomenon. For their part, publications allowing such scams to pass must carry out more in-depth checks to prevent their readers from falling into the trap.

How to detect and avoid scams

If you are looking for investment services to invest your money, be sure to follow these tips to avoid becoming a victim of a scam:

• Always be wary of ads that do not mention the risks associated with investing. A legal announcement always highlights the risk of financial loss.
• Don’t trust promises of quick, easy, and too-good-to-be-true gains. There is no high return without high risk. If an ad offers higher returns passively, run away.
• Rigorously verify the identity of the advertiser before any request for documentation or commitment. Do not hesitate to contact the advertiser using their official contact details to check if the offer really comes from their company and not from a usurper.

If in doubt, turn to consumer associations and/or the AMF website, which regularly publish alerts about fraudulent offers. If you think you are the victim of an online scam, please note that it is possible to make a report via Info Escroqueries, the government assistance platform. And if you have any suspicions about a transfer made to an investment institution, contact your bank immediately to try to block the transactions.

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