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Common scams › Fake gendarme and fake policeman

Fake gendarme and fake police officer scam – How to recognize it

The fake gendarme or fake police officer scam is a scam where an individual poses as law enforcement in order to obtain your banking details, validate transfers or recover your valuables. The screen displays the number of the village gendarmerie brigade. On the other end of the line, a calm man announces that a complaint has been filed against you, or that fraud is in progress on your card. This scam is not based on financial urgency but on respect for authority — a particularly strong reflex among older people. Several gendarmerie units launched public alerts in early 2026.

By Charlie BART — Published August 2, 2026

A fake police officer, cap and badge without inscription, appears in a telephone bubble.
In brief

The fake gendarme, or fake policeman, scam is a telephone scam in which an individual presents himself as a member of the police, often displaying the real number of a brigade or police station through number spoofing. The goal is to obtain banking data, validate transfers, or organize the recovery of valuable items from home. We also talk about false quality theft.

How does the call work, step by step?

  1. 1
    An official number is displayed

    The call appears to come from a real gendarmerie or police station. It'snumber spoofing : software allows you to display the caller ID of your choice. Brigades from Calvados, Sarthe, Seine-Maritime and Somme reported this process in early 2026.

  2. 2
    A credible accusation or alert

    The scenarios vary: “a complaint has been filed against you”, “your number was used to send fraudulent SMS messages”, “fraud is in progress on your bank card”, “you must pay a fine”. Fear of Authority Plays the Role Urgency Plays in Money Scam fake bank advisor : it prevents checking.

  3. 3
    Transfer to an “advisor”

    The fake policeman often refrains from asking for bank details himself. He invites the victim to quickly call back a “bank advisor” or an “expert” on a number he provides. This second interlocutor, accomplice, obtains the identifiers or validates transfers.

  4. 4
    The home variant: theft with false quality

    In another variation, the false police officer pretends to be an investigation after the arrest of a burglar and asks to check the presence of jewelry or cash in the home. An accomplice then shows up to “secure” the objects. Upsurges have been reported particularly in Deux-Sèvres and Indre-et-Loire.

  5. 5
    Isolation of the victim

    Because the victim believes she is being implicated in an investigation, she hesitates to talk about it to those around her. The false gendarme can reinforce this silence by invoking the secrecy of the investigation. This is what makes the scam lasting and difficult for a loved one to stop.

What the police and gendarmerie never do

These four rules are enough to identify the scam, even when the number displayed is authentic.

  • Request your bank details, identifiers or confidential code. Neither by phone, nor by SMS, nor by email. No investigation justifies it.

  • Ask you to call a banking service on a number they give you. This is the central mechanism of this scam.

  • Come to your home to collect jewelry, cash or bank card. No agent, no courier, no mandated “expert”.

  • Request immediate payment by phone to extinguish a fine, a ticket or a procedure.

Guardy keeps a list of things to do.

Check, then report

  1. Hang up without giving any reasons. You have no obligation to stay on the line, and hanging up never makes a real situation worse.
  2. Dial 17 yourself, or the official unit number that you found on your own. Ask if the cited agent exists and if there is a case that concerns you. Never call back the number that was displayed.
  3. If you have provided banking information, immediately call your bank's opposition service, using the number on the back of your card, then file a complaint.
  4. Report the attempt. On cybermalveillance.gouv.fr for assistance, on I alert Arcep for number spoofing, and 33700 for fraudulent SMS messages.
  5. Talk about it. This scam relies on the silence of the victim. Talking to a loved one is often what interrupts it.

How Kin-Guard detects this scam

A blacklist filter is useless here: the number shown belongs to a real gendarmerie, so it looks perfectly legitimate. Kin-Guard judges the conversation, not the number. The assistant answers in your place, or in your loved one’s, asks for the caller’s identity and reason, and spots the signals specific to this scenario: being implicated in a procedure, an instruction to call back another number, a request for banking details, an invitation not to tell anyone. If these signals add up, the call is not put through and you are alerted.

Frequently asked questions

Can the gendarmerie or the police really call me?

Yes, an investigation service can contact you, for example for a summons or regarding a complaint you have filed. But a gendarme or a police officer will never ask you by telephone for your bank details, your account access identifiers or your confidential code, and will never ask you to call back a “bank advisor” on a number that he or she dictates to you.

The number displayed is that of my brigade: is this proof?

No. Scammers use spoofing, which allows them to display any number, including that of a gendarmerie brigade or a police station. Several units publicly alerted about this process in early 2026. The number displayed never authenticates the caller.

How do I verify that a call really comes from law enforcement?

Hang up, then dial 17 yourself, or the official number of the unit concerned that you found on your own. Ask if the agent who called you exists and if a case concerns you. Never use a number provided during the suspicious call, and do not call back the number that was displayed.

Can a police officer come to my house to collect jewelry or money?

No, never. This is the most expensive variant, called counterfeit theft: a fake police officer announces an investigation into counterfeit bills or stolen jewelry, then an accomplice comes to the home to “secure” the valuables. Law enforcement never collects money, jewelry or bank cards from your home.

What to do after receiving such a call?

If you have not communicated anything, report the call on cybermalveillance.gouv.fr and usurpation via I alert Arcep. If you have provided banking information, immediately call your bank's objection service and then file a complaint. See also our guide: what to do after giving sensitive information.

Article written by Charlie BART, founder of Kin-Guard. Published on August 2, 2026.

Sources: TF1 Info – Fake police officer scam · France 3 Normandy — Alert from the Calvados gendarmerie · Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr

Also read

Number spoofing: why the display proves nothing Read the article → Fake banking advisor: how to recognize it Read the article → What to do after giving sensitive information Read the article →

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