Cybercrime the focus of three Luxembourg court cases

Identity theft or car leasing fraud?

In one case, a man was accused of using false documents to sign a car lease for a vehicle that had gone unpaid.

The defendant insisted he had no involvement and that he had lost his identity card. However, the leasing company had a copy of his identity card alongside falsified copies of his employment contract, and salary statements attached to the fraudulent application. The defendant claims that other dishonest individuals had stolen his identity to obtain the €50,000 car.

His lawyer criticised the prosecution for failing to conduct a thorough investigation, noting that police had not interviewed his client or questioned the leasing company about the identity of the person impersonating him. However, because the defendant could not provide supporting evidence, such as a loss report for the ID card, the case was adjourned indefinitely.

‘Money mule’: victim and accomplice

Another young man, who travelled from Belgium for his trial, faced charges as a "money mule" in a phishing case. Money stolen from a Luxembourg resident via a phishing text in 2022 had been transferred to his account.

He explained that he had been asked by an old acquaintance from the Ivory Coast to help with €1,000 for her mother's surgery, It was his holiday money. When she could not transfer funds directly, she asked him to open an online account. €5,000 was transferred from the Luxembourg victim's account; €1,500 was kept by the accused (€1,000 for the repayment and €500 in "interest") while €2,500 went to the acquaintance and the remaining €1,000 went to a third party he did not know.

The judge questioned why he had not noticed anything suspicious. Why was it so complicated to make a simple refund, the judge asked the defendant. Hadn't he noticed that something was wrong? But for that too, his friend in the Ivory Coast had a ready-made story, which the defendant apparently did not question.

The deputy prosecutor believed the defendant's version of events as his statements seemed honest and sincere, even acknowledging the young man's efforts of making the trip all the way from Brussels to appear in court. However, he demanded a six-month suspended prison sentence and the confiscation of assets worth €5,000 in order to reimburse the victim.

Phishing scams, the prosecutor noted, are carried out by professional international networks, but financial mules, volunteers who make their accounts available for fraudulent transfers are "indispensable" to the operation. The accused should have a word with his old Ivorian acquaintance to let him know that he is being prosecuted because of him, the deputy prosecutor suggested.

€20,000 debited after a scam

In a third trial, only the injured civil party was present at the hearing. Three of the four defendants did not respond to their summons. The fourth young man, also a Belgian resident, had excused himself because he was about to become a father.

The victim recounted how, in August 2024, she received a call from a man posing as her banker. He claimed to have detected potential fraud on her account. In a panic, she gave him her bank details and access codes. A few days later, she filed a complaint because she had been debited nearly €20,000.

Once again, the money was stolen via online bank accounts. According to the deputy public prosecutor, these accounts are often opened using false documents, deepfakes created by artificial intelligence, which are not verified. In this case, there were actually four real people involved. For the three people who did not appear at the hearing, the prosecution requested twelve months' imprisonment and confiscation of assets to compensate the victim. The young father's case was withdrawn from the proceedings until he could appear in court.