In the summer of 2023, a quartet from the north of France set up a scam in the Côte d’Azur casinos that was as ingenious as it was risky. Nearly €60,000 worth of fake gift vouchers were sold in gambling establishments in Cannes, Nice and Sainte-Maxime. Two years later, the Draguignan Criminal Court has delivered its verdict: luck has run out for the four accomplices.
Riviera casinos targeted
Under the golden lights of the Barrière casinos, the atmosphere seemed unchanged: slot machines flashing, chips clattering, waiters in suits. Yet behind this luxurious backdrop, a well-honed system of fraud had taken root.
Apolline, Omar, Maeva and Bruno, all from the north of France, had found a way to launder money that was as simple as it was dangerous. Fake gift vouchers with a face value of €100, bought illegally via the Telegram messaging system, were used to obtain chips discreetly. After a few token games of slot machines, the winnings could be cashed in.
The affair might have gone unnoticed had the protagonists not repeated the operation with disturbing regularity. Between July and August 2023, no fewer than 592 gift vouchers were exchanged in the casinos of Cannes, Cassis, Nice and Sainte-Maxime, for an estimated loss of €59,200.
Omar and Bruno, considered to be the masterminds, kept their distance. They sent Apolline and Maeva to the front.
“French women’s faces go down better than Arab faces. If Omar had been there, they would have suspected something,” Apolline admitted on the stand.
This strategy was designed to avoid suspicion from the staff of the gambling establishments.
Stolen identities and a structured network
The investigation quickly uncovered a wider system. The vouchers came from a network of false identities and stolen bank cards, used to buy the cheques on the Internet. Bruno was the linchpin. Apolline kept the accounts with surgical precision: number of cheques used, kilometres travelled, hotel nights, sums earned and paid out.
For prosecutor Débora Collombier, this was no simple improvisation:
“There was a minimum of structure in this team, with Bruno managing the network, Omar as her right-hand man and Apolline and Maeva aware that they were taking part in a money-laundering operation. It’s definitely an organised gang.”
Omar, for his part, tried to play down his role:
“I saw that it was working and I took advantage of the system. I thought they were company cheques and that there was no risk. But when I see where it got me… I regret it. We did it for the money.”
An inevitable downfall
When the investigators got their hands on the quartet, the veneer of luxury cracked. Bruno, the self-proclaimed leader, initially escaped arrest. He was finally arrested in January 2025 in Chambéry, in another casino, with €200,000 in small bills.
Already sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in this parallel case, his sentence was increased to a total of five years, together with a €5,000 fine. Omar, his accomplice, received the same sentence.
Apolline and Maeva, described as the ‘presentable faces’ of the fraud, benefited from extenuating circumstances. They received an eight-month suspended sentence and a five-year ban from all casinos.
The epilogue to an all-too-perfect scam
The Draguignan court handed down its decision firmly, aware that the case goes beyond simple fraud: it reveals a new form of digital delinquency, on the borderline between cybercrime and grassroots fraud.
These fake gift vouchers, sold in a chain on Telegram, have become one of the preferred tools of money-laundering networks operating between France, Belgium and North Africa. The Côte d’Azur, with its iconic casinos and constant influx of tourists, was the ideal victim.