It was on Tuesday, January 9, that the Rennes Criminal Court (France) pronounced its verdict in a firewood scam case on the internet. Three Beninese were sentenced to prison terms of 18 months and 30 months

The main defendant in the online firewood scam case was sentenced to 30 months in prison with a 5-year ban from staying in France for 5 years for scamming firewood on the internet. The two other Beninese working in France and also holding French nationality were sentenced to an 18-month suspended prison sentence. These co-defendants are also prohibited from managing a business in France for 5 years

In reality, “the authors created fake merchant sites of excellent quality and improved their Internet referencing by artificial means, thus giving credibility to their sites” according to the public prosecutor Philippe Astruc. Through these fake sites, they offer firewood at unbeatable prices. According to the prosecutor, the victims pay by transfers to accounts that changed regularly. The funds are then transferred to money transfer platforms via other bounce accounts. The customers were never delivered.