A French paramedic couple who spent years saving euro by euro to buy their first home must start from scratch after a fake bank advisor drained their savings and spent months gaining their trust.
“We feel helpless, we have no way out,” complained Sabine Delaleau, the mother of 27-year-old Victoria, to France Info on Monday.
It all started in 2022 when the young woman and her partner Romain, 29, started looking for a house in Tourcoing, in the north, after four years of living together.
To make their work easier because they had two jobs as ambulance drivers, the young woman's mother then researched the internet to find the best loan rates.
But after opening a file on a website, she was contacted by an advisor from online bank Hello Bank, who then offered her a competitive interest rate. Additionally, after doing some research, the advisor seemed reputable, so the two women asked their broker and banker for advice.
“No one thought it was strange, not our banker nor the broker we asked for advice […] We were told I couldn't do better, “so do it,” Victoria told French media.
It was only after a few months, in July 2023, that the couple found a suitable house and began the process with the bank advisor, who opened the file.
“He provided us with all the official papers, with signatures in the real names of the directors of Hello Bank,” she continued. To complete the purchase, he informed us that it would be easier for him to transfer the entire amount to the notary at once.”
Except that the fake financial advisor would have disappeared into thin air after transferring the sum of 26,000 euros, the equivalent of 38,000 US dollars.
Through a call to the online bank, the young woman learned that some of her advisors were “victims of identity theft,” the two women added to France Info.
“The ground beneath my feet collapsed […] These are the savings of her life, the work of us parents and of her, a student who has put aside one euro after another,” whispered the mother, who feels guilty for having put the fraudster in contact with her girl has.
An investigation was launched and the two women said they had not yet ended the fight over the color of the stolen money, but they also wanted to prevent others from falling into the trap.
The French media advises to prefer physical meetings to carry out the property purchase and to contact the headquarters of an online bank in advance to ensure their good faith, in addition to verifying the legality of the processes gradually with professionals.