Major Data Leak at French Work Agency Trial Begins in Lyon

pSubscribe to The ConnexionppSee prices plansppHELP GUIDESppIncome Tax in FranceppHealthcare in FranceppInheritance Law and Wills in FranceppVisas and residency cards for FranceppSubscribe to The ConnexionppSee prices plansppHELP GUIDESppIncome Tax in FranceppHealthcare in FranceppInheritance Law and Wills in FranceppVisas and residency cards for FranceppA largescale trial is opening in Lyon this week after the discovery of a major data leak at a French work agency Adecco that left 72000 victims in one of the most serious datarelated frauds ever uncovered in Francepp16 people are in the dock at the Lyon correctional court facing 22 charges including organised fraud and identity theft ppThe central figure is a 20yearold described by investigators as having exceptionally high intellectual capacities and a compulsive drive to find and exploit digital loopholes ppHe reportedly continued illicit activities using smuggled smartphones even while awaiting trialppThe case centres on the breach of the Adecco temporary work agencys internal systemsppIn 2022 a 19yearold intern at an agency in Besançon Doubs sold his login credentials to a contact on an encrypted chat platform He purportedly did not receive the 15000 he had been promised for the login details and was arrested shortly afterwardsppRead more Warning over fraud risk after leak of user data at French medical laboratory chainppThe access allowed hackers to extract data on around eight million jobseekers including banking detailsppThe interns arrest allowed investigators to trace the web of pseudonyms and encrypted channels used by the wider networkppUsing the stolen Adecco data the group began issuing automated withdrawals of 4985 from thousands of bank accounts just below the 50 threshold that typically triggers fraud detection alerts The small repeated sums went unnoticed for weeks ppIn total nearly 33000 people were debited without their consent generating a confirmed loss of 16million ppA further 40000 attempts were blocked or later refunded Banks involved have joined the trial as civil parties having reimbursed around 14millionppHowever this was only part of the wider fraud uncovered during the investigation ppAccording to prosecutors the lead defendant had been operating since 2019 He and accomplices allegedly used phishing and social engineering to impersonate individuals and businesses targeting public aid schemes including MaPrimeRénov which is now subject to temporary closure in a bid to combat fraudppThe Adecco data also allowed the creation of fake ID cards and social security documents used to open mule bank accounts for laundering the stolen fundsppThe firm whose French headquarters are in Villeurbanne is not on trial but has admitted a security failure in allowing an unsupervised intern access to sensitive national data ppThe case has raised wider concerns about data handling by major employment platformsppGiven the scale of the issue with more than 2400 individuals and organisations already registered as civil parties proceedings are being broadcast from the courthouse to nearby university lecture rooms and via a dedicated online stream ppThe trial is expected to run until June 27 with further civil claims likely to followppSocial media is being used to broadcast assault campaigns concerning unauthorised injectionsppThe sums lost by victims are enormous an average of 20000 per case says UFCQue ChoisirppUK media reports suggest another woman was recently attacked in Tremolatpp
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