Two complaints for “fraud” and “breach of trust” were recently sent to the Paris prosecutor’s office, on behalf of a hundred people who claim to be victims of influencer practices. At the same time, the National Assembly is discussing a bill on the subject on Thursday.
“I want fear to change sides.” For more than eight months, Slim*, co-founder of the AVI collective (Help for victims of influencers), has denounced the practices of some of the personalities who praise the merits of products on social networks in exchange for remuneration. The 30-year-old is not alone in this battle, since deputies are also taking up the subject. According to Fraud Control, “six out of ten vetted influencers fail to comply with advertising and consumer rights regulations”. A bill aims to regulate the sector and better fight against excesses. The text is examined in public session at the National Assembly, Thursday, February 9. It will be again in March, after the publication of the results of a consultation on the practices of influencers launched by the government at the beginning of January.
Cosmetics, food supplements, fashion accessories or everyday objects… The range of products touted by influencers is wide, but it was advertising for financial products and services that caught the attention of MP Arthur Delaporte, rapporteur for the bill. During the examination of the text in committee, on February 1, the elected Socialist tabled an amendment to prohibit the promotion of these practices, which present “significant risk of loss to consumers”. “You have to be reactive in the face of opaque practices of gray finance”, who flirt with legality, underlines the parliamentarian to franceinfo.
High risk investments
THE “copy trading” is one of these practices. It consists of investing money, then reproducing the financial positions taken by traders to make it grow, most of the time on a highly speculative market, such as that of currencies, the Forex (Foreign Exchange Market). Although legal, these online trading investments are high risk and can result in large losses, all dangers that fraud enforcement warns against.
For its part, the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) regularly updates a blacklist of sites that are not authorized to offer such financial investments. More recently, she developed an Instagram campaign against scams in trading. The AMF also recalls that advertising for the riskiest products, whether direct or indirect, has been prohibited since the so-called “Sapin II” law of December 9, 2016.
However, for several months, influencers have been improvising as trading experts and have been multiplying face-to-face videos to convince their subscribers to bet on these speculative products. Faced with this phenomenon, Claire Castanet, director of relations with savers and their protection at the AMF, calls for increased vigilance. “When you see an influencer recommending a trading site or an investment, you have to ask yourself several questions: ‘Does he have proven skills in finance?’ ‘Is this a sincere, disinterested testimony or an advertisement?’ It is not always clearly specified, whereas it is an obligation.
“We must not let ourselves be blinded by the promises of quick gains without doing anything and without risk: that does not exist, it is an illusion!”
Claire Castanet, director of investor relations at the AMFat franceinfo
Influencers know how to be convincing, like Marc Blata, former reality TV candidate (like many influencers). Very present on social networks, the one who made himself known by revealing a story of clairvoyant hired by another candidate within the program “Les Marseillais”, hammers, at length of publications, the message “Copy-paste-collect”. It encourages you to click on a link that sends you to a Telegram messaging channel, called “Blata Gang”. It is on this channel that he communicates, with his wife, Nadé Blata, purchase and sale orders to participants, according to the principle of “copy trading”.
The couple claims to have a dream lifestyle in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) thanks to this practice and promises significant gains, as franceinfo has seen on Telegram. Marc Blata warns of the losses incurred in a written message, but at the same time advises in his videos to “take action”.
“I had never done that, like most people”
Seeing these images scroll by, Mel was tempted. “Marc Blata is certified on Instagram. He has a lot of ‘followers’. I saw it on Cyril Hanouna’s show. It gives some credibility. He was convincing and reassuring about this product. He said he was investing like us”, she explains to franceinfo. She finally lost a little more than 1,000 euros, in 2021. For his part, Clément, delivery driver, ensured, last July in Release (article for subscribers), having lost 2,000 euros. “I spent day and night in front of the computer to monitor the curves, I lost weight, it was an addiction”, he says. They are “found dry, eating pasta and rice every day”.
Slim experienced a similar situation. “I first invested 500 euros. In two or three days, I made money, I arrived at 800 euros. Then, I went into the red, to zero, after a new order of purchase. I did not know how to manage my capital, he testifies. I was using leverage without knowing it: I had never done that, like most people. A month later, I wanted to redo myself and I redeposited 500 euros”, he continues. But this attempt proved unsuccessful, as did the following: “I lost 1,500 euros between April and December 2021.”
The thirty-something tries to find out more and demands his “trading report” to Nadé Blata, without success. “I then understood that she and her husband were not trading, but that they were paid by affiliation”, he says. Clearly, he accuses them of receiving a commission each time a person invests money by clicking on his link.
Slim is not the only one to wonder about the practices of the Blata couple. On May 31, many people who have lost large sums of money log on to a “space” (a conversation group) on Twitter. Baptized #Blatarnaque, it is relayed by rapper Booba, also on a crusade against the actions of certain influencers, including Marc Blata.
“For some, the losses reach tens of thousands of euros. We saw isolated mothers crying, who lost everything. We thought there was something to be done.”
Slim*, founder of the AVI collectiveat franceinfo
It is in this context that the AVI collective was born. Today, it is managed by about fifteen people and has approximately 1,400 members. Of the “spaces” on the subject are organized every evening on Twitter.
Above all, the victims decided to take the case to court. They addressed two complaints to the Paris prosecutor’s office, mainly for “organized gang fraud” and “breach of trust”, on January 23. One of them concerns ‘the scam’copy-trading’” and targets in particular Marc and Nadé Blata. The second targets the Animoon project. Iinspired by the model of pokemon cardshe managed, according to the AVI collective, to gather more than 5 000 investors with a fundraising valued at $6.3 million, with none receiving a dime, despite promises of big gains. Contacted by franceinfo, the Paris prosecutor’s office specifies that it is not aware of these complaints at this stage.
“The complaints were made in the name of the collective, for all the victims, but against X, to avoid designating only the Blatas, because there is a whole network of influencers behind”, explains Alexandre Dakos, one of the lawyers appointed by the collective. The latter listed 88 victims as of January 23. This figure then greatly increased following the press conference he organized the same day with the victims.
“There is nothing illegal in what we are doing”
This mobilization does not destabilize Marc Blata, Marc Océane Singainy Tevanin of his real name. “80 people: but what pride, what pride! I have more than 19,000 people who joined the ‘Blata Gang’ and only 80 who complained”he reacted on Instagram.
But the link with this social network is cut: his account, like that of his wife, was deleted on January 27. “We have clear rules against people who attempt to use our services to abuse others,” a spokesperson for Meta told AFP.
“There is nothing illegal in what we are doing. Me, if I hadn’t taken risks, I wouldn’t be in a villa in Dubai”had hammered, in September 2022, Marc Blata at the Parisian (article for subscribers). “We are transparent, at no time did we tell our subscribers that we were traders. The signals come to us from a trader. (…) People who lose all the money in ‘copy trading’ are people who went too fast and invested all their money on a signal”had defended his wife, also questioned by the daily.
The couple continues to encourage Internet users to make “copy trading”from Twitter and still on Telegram, where just over 19,600 people were registered as of February 7. Contacted, their lawyer did not wish to answer our questions.
*Name has been changed