The Haute-Saône gendarmes estimate that at least 1,400 people throughout France have purchased their highway code exam without ever having taken the test.
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Four people, three touts and an exam center manager, were arrested by the gendarmes after the dismantling of a large traffic operation concerning the highway code exam, France Bleu Besançon reported on Friday, September 15, confirming information from the Republican East. Traffic has been dismantled from Vesoul in Haute-Saône.
Thus at least 1,400 people spread across France have purchased their highway code exam without ever having taken this test, thanks to a network managed from an exam center in the Paris region. The affair was revealed and clarified from Haute-Saône, thanks to the testimony of a resident of Vesoul.
Between 250 and 600 euros per candidate
In May, this man demonstrated to the police that he could buy the highway code test by ordering it via encrypted messaging. This application allows you to get in touch with local relays. The so-called highway code candidate pays the money to a tout, who then takes care of the procedures. He registers him in an examination center via the Internet, and this center then sends a copy of the passed code examination by email, which paves the way for taking the driving license. The touts pocketed between 250 euros and 600 euros per candidate.
The Haute-Saône gendarmes thus identified three residents of Vesoul as being the touts of this network in the department. They are suspected of having sold these highway code exams to around fifty people in Haute-Saône. They were arrested and placed in police custody in July, these three suspects admitted the facts. Their arrest brought to light the national scale of trafficking.
Management immediately closed the center concerned
The gendarmes then realized that all of its fraudulent highway code exams sold throughout the country were validated by a single center, located in the Paris region, in Val-de-Marne, and which belongs to the Dekra chain. The manager was arrested and taken into police custody during which he confessed everything. He sold his false codes to touts, between 130 and 180 euros per certificate. He is suspected of having received around 120,000 euros.
Dekra management immediately closed the center concerned, which only employed this manager. All suspected fraudsters who purchased their highway code test were identified and the list was sent to the prefectures. They will cancel the highway code test for everyone, as well as the driving license for those who had time to take it.