Journalist Élise Lucet has seen her image used by a large-scale scam campaign targeting the French public. What do we know about this campaign and what strategies are being used?
Presenter Elise Lucet collateral victim of a series of cryptocurrency scams
Kylian Mbappé, Christophe Maé, Yann Barthès… Cryptocurrency scams often use images of French celebrities to fool their victims. The strategy is often the same: claim that a celebrity has “discovered” a get-rich-quick scheme, and that both the media and the banks are out to silence them.
This is also the case with the campaign that has used the image of Élise Lucet, the former France 2 TV news anchor, in recent weeks. A large number of fake articles have been scattered across the French Web, with catchy headlines to back them up:
Beware scam: a coordinated campaign of malicious posts is using my image to convey completely false content. Some of them link to fraudulent sites promoting cryptocurrency sites in particular. Obviously, I had nothing to do with it. pic.twitter.com/6fRava6iCx
– Elise Lucet (@EliseLucet) March 6, 2024
“Élise Lucet regretted telling the truth”, “Élise Lucet said goodbye to her ordinary life”… The headlines invite readers to click, and make use of the Le Monde newspaper logo to claim a certain seriousness.
If you follow the links presented, you’ll find yourself on dubious sites, inviting you to spend money on unknown projects. Cryptocurrency-related keywords are also used to attract victims.
Élise Lucet has filed a complaint
Last Monday, Élise Lucet confirmed that she had filed a complaint against X. Speaking to France Info, she explained that some of the investigations she has presented on the programs Envoyé Spécial and Cash Investigation have been aimed precisely at cryptocurrency scams:
“These are scams whose posts have taken on a huge scale. Is it because of the investigations we carry out on Envoyé Spécial or Cash Investigation? It’s hard to say. But it’s true that we’re working on these kinds of subjects at the moment. “
Beyond the work of Élise Lucet, we note that scammers often choose personalities who enjoy a favorable image with the French, or who are even linked to the news industry. This was the case in 2023 for the journalist and presenter of Quotidien, Yann Barthès.
