French-Israelis said to swindle millions by impersonating foreign minister

Israeli police arrested three French-Israeli citizens last month accused of scamming French victims out of several million euros in an elaborate sting in which they pretended to be the French foreign minister.

One victim was reportedly swindled out of 8 million Euros (approximately $9 million), French media reported Thursday.

A source close to the investigation told the AFP news agency that the trio were arrested in the coastal city of Netanya on February 26, in a case hailed as an example of “very good cooperation between the French and Israeli authorities.”

The three, aged 37 to 47, impersonated French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in the scam, which began last September, convincing wealthy individuals and businesspeople to transfer cash to pay the ransoms of French hostages held in Mali and Syria because the government could not be seen to be paying cash to terrorists, Le Parisien reported.

According to reports, they communicated with their victims via phone, email and Skype conversations featuring a fake minister.

The money was reportedly funneled through a European bank account before it was sent to China and then eventually back to Israel.

During the police raid, two of the accused were immediately captured, while the third managed to escape and was arrested after a manhunt.

According to Le Parisien, the three deny the accusations and could have properties and a yacht seized as a result of the case. They will go on trial in Israel.

“Most of the victims did not respond to these solicitations because the method used was a bit out of step with what is usually done in the hushed environment of diplomacy and business. Some had even heard of a previous Le Drian scam,” a source told the newspaper.

In 2017, the Ynet news site reported that a gang of Israelis swindled money out of private security companies in France by pretending to be Le Drian, right down to constructing a replica of his office. One of the gang members disguised themselves as Le Drian and scammed the companies out of tens of millions of euros, saying it was needed for covert intelligence operations.

Both scams appear to be similar to a 2015 swindle attempt, which also used the terrorist ransom excuse and is thought to have originated in Israel. Then, fraudsters impersonating Le Drian told their potential victims not to disclose any details as it was a matter of national security.

Le Drian filed an official complaint over that case, which was said to target unnamed African leaders. Those leaders all called Drian’s staff, who realized the scam was an attempt to siphon huge amounts of money.

The Israel Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.