With the summer holidays, many motorists have to obtain a Crit’Air sticker to drive in certain large cities. A golden opportunity for scammers who have developed deceptive fake sites.

With the summer holidays, many motorists have to obtain a Crit’Air sticker to drive in certain large cities. A golden opportunity for scammers who have developed deceptive fake sites.

In France, some urban areas are periodically subject to traffic restrictions and excessively polluting vehicles are prohibited from driving. Since 1^er July 2016, to be able to move in certain regions and agglomerations, it is necessary to be equipped with a special vignette indicating the emission rate of the vehicle, called Crit Air (Where Air quality certificate, His full name). In practice, this certificate takes the form of a round sticker that is placed on the inside of the windshield or on the fork for two-wheelers, with a number ranging from zero for electric cars to 5 for cars, light commercial vehicles and diesel and biodiesel trucks/buses/coaches launched between 1^er January 1997 and September 30, 2006. The Crit’Air sticker can only be ordered online, on thee official website of the Government. But with the summer holidays and the influx of tourists in a hurry or badly informed, the scams – sometimes very ingenious – multiply through fraudulent sites.

Crit’Air vignette: for which vehicles?

Registered vehicles must have a Crit’Air sticker to drive in low mobility emission zones (ZFE-m), which were created to protect the inhabitants of cities and metropolises when air pollution is high. The Paris conurbation, the metropolis of Grenoble, the metropolis of Lyon, Rouen-Normandy, Reims, Nice-Côte d’Azur, Toulouse and Saint-Étienne are concerned. In a ZFE-m, only vehicles under the decreed pollution rate have the right to circulate. It is the municipalities that set the periods when traffic is restricted, the types of vehicles concerned and the minimum Crit’Air level to be able to circulate. Of course, foreign tourists are also affected by this regulation, which provides easy prey for scammers.

Vignette Crit’Air: fake sites very well imitated

Computer security researchers fromESET have spotted many scams related to Crit’Air stickers. Let’s remember, only official government website – available in French, English and German – allows you to order your sticker. However, fraudulent sites are multiplying, and even go so far as to copy the official site. With the right techniques to optimize the referencing of the fake site, it is easy to make it go up in the first sites displayed on Google. When the Internet user types in the search bar “Crit’Air label” or “Crit’Air sticker”, he can therefore land on a fraudulent site.

These sites are graphically very similar to the official site, and go so far as to copy the government logo and put similar wording, such as www.certificat-air.gouv.fr.example.com or URLs similar to example.com /www.certificat-air.gouv.fr. You are then asked to fill out a form with a lot of personal information – name, address, telephone number, email… – but also bank details. The sum requested to obtain the Crit’Air sticker can go up to 60 €, while it is only 3.70 € for metropolitan France. Additionally, information is often sold on the dark web, which exposes the victim to future fraud, such as phishing campaigns, targeted attacks, and even identity theft. Generally, the victims never receive their tag or receive a false one, which is therefore not valid in the event of an inspection. They are then fined between 68 and 450 €. Therefore, it is better to type the URL of the official site by hand, and make sure to type it correctly: certificate-air.gouv.fr.