The Paris prosecutor's office has just announced the indictment of six people, report our colleagues at Le Parisien. The individuals arrested are suspected of having participated in a vast criminal network specializing in fake package returns, called "Zulon".
In a scam of this type, a fraudster orders a product online, then requests a return by claiming that it does not suit him. In accordance with the law in Europe, stores allow you to return a purchase if it does not suit your needs. the buyer within 14 days. The fraudster sends an empty package or an item of lesser value. He then receives a refund, but can resell the package on the second-hand market or keep it.
Amazon, Ikea... Zulon's victims
Among Zulon's targets are major brands such as Ikea, Amazon, Leroy Merlin and Auchan. As the prosecution explains, “the tally concerning Leroy Merlin alone had already reached 1.6 million euros, that concerning Amazon amounted to 254,000 euros”. Active for at least four years, the group has embezzled up to 30 million euros.
The investigation began with a complaint from La Poste in March 2024. The complaint indicated that it had observed “false returns of parcels declared by a postman for the benefit of several customers”. Subsequently, cybersecurity experts uncovered “a Telegram loop offering this service” of false declared parcels, called Refund France.
How did Refund France work?
This criminal service made it possible to make people believe that Amazon, Ikea and others that a package had indeed been returned. With the help of corrupt postmen, the scammers used La Poste's Factéo phones to scan fake return barcodes. This approach resulted in an immediate refund from the online retailers. The network thus exploited a gaping loophole in the operation of the platforms' immediate refund policy, which promises to reimburse customers before the package even returns to the warehouses.
All that was needed was access to the professional smartphones used by La Poste postmen, which are used to scan packages, record signatures and access internal data management applications. Using this proven method, some of Refund France's customers have diverted more than 400 packages, including smartphones and clothing.
The mastermind of the operation, an "anti-capitalist geek" living in Dubai, was arrested while visiting his family in France. This "computer whiz, loner" was placed in a psychiatric hospital. The postman and administrators, including a lawyer practicing in Paris, are them suspected of “organized fraud, organized money laundering, and administration of a platform enabling organized illicit transactions”.Three people are in pretrial detention, while three others are under judicial supervision.
Source: Le Parisien
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