Particularly vigilant on the prices of masks and hydroalcoholic gels during the health crisis, the DGCCRF said on Monday that it had carried out 41,600 checks and tracked down scams to anti-Covid-19 "miracle" products.
From April, the General Directorate for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) worked in collaboration with customs, the gendarmerie and financial and tax controllers, in a national "task force" against fraud and coronavirus scams.
"There were twelve" withdrawal-recall "of hydroalcoholic gels and we found batches of non-compliant masks within the framework of the" task force ", which gave rise to market withdrawals or marketing bans", explained the director of the DGCCRF, Virginie Beaumeunier, during a press conference.
Agents trained to identify "scams"
Some hydroalcoholic gels contained, for example, an insufficient dose of alcohol for satisfactory disinfection.
An update on the investigations linked to the health crisis
As of July 8, 2020: 23,000 # checks on gels have been carried out and 18,600 on surgical-type masks and on # compliance of “general public” masks.
Agents have also been trained in internet checks to identify "scams, such as fake disinfectant lamps, fake sterilizers, fake food supplements", detailed Virginie Beaumeunier.
2019 # CORONAVIRUS review: from March 2, 2020, investigators checked the prices of hydroalcoholic gels and detected #cams around “miracle” products to fight against the #virus. pic.twitter.com/SoesfLMk8Q
- DGCCRF (@dgccrf) July 27, 2020"In the coming months, the DGCCRF will be particularly vigilant on payment deadlines, which are likely to lead to chain bankruptcies", for his part assured the Minister for SMEs, Alain Griset, adding that "exemplary sanctions" will be applied to bad payers who have benefited from state aid.
In 2019, some 22 million euros in fines for non-compliance with payment deadlines were imposed on 209 companies, according to the annual report of the DGCCRF published on Monday. By targeting "everyday fraudsters", the management checked nearly 100,000 establishments and 15,000 websites and recorded more than 55,000 consumer complaints.
"Name and shame"
Last year was marked by "the growing importance of control needs to support the ecological transition and the fight against everyday fraud," explained the director of fraud repression, in the preamble to the report. These "daily" crooks are inventive: hidden subscription subscription, abuse of weakness in home repair, fake administrative sites and especially abusive canvassing.
To respond to this, the DGCCRF has stepped up checks by targeting principals, tripled the amount of fines and developed the “name and shame”.
The energy renovation of housing has been the subject of special attention by its 3,000 agents because "the development of offers" insulation at 1 euro "was unfortunately accompanied by fraud, based on massive and aggressive canvassing campaigns telephone, ”added Virginie Beaumeunier.
In October 2019, the French energy giant Engie was fined 892,500 euros for abusive canvassing.
The use of artificial intelligence
In addition, 2019 was marked by the development of controls linked to the implementation of the EGAlim law (or "Food law"), but also by the conviction in September of Amazon by the Paris commercial court. : the American online commerce giant must modify within six months, and under penalty, several clauses of the general conditions of use of its "marketplace" and pay a fine of 4 million euros for its commercial practices.
Another sizeable sanction: that of the telephone operator SFR to the tune of 3.7 million euros, in November 2019, for repeated breaches of legal payment deadlines.
In total, the DGCCRF recorded, in 2019, 55,912 consumer complaints (-13% over one year), a decrease which is "in line with the trend observed for ten years" according to its report.
The “Signal Conso” application, tested in three regions in 2019 and generalized in early 2020, received 22,000 reports from consumers witnessing a malfunction.
Another investment in digital: the DGCCRF plans to use artificial intelligence in its investigations, in particular to look for unfair terms in contracts or to detect false consumer reviews on a website, always with the aim of better targeting and to be more efficient in controls.
Health
Recall produced after the ineffectiveness of two hydroalcoholic gels
Economy
Energy renovations at 1 euro: Beware of scams
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