French leader’s wife in identity theft complaint

PARIS: Scam artists used a fake French presidency email address and First Lady Brigitte Macron’s name to try and get into fancy restaurants and entertainment venues around the world, prompting the president’s wife to file a complaint for identity theft.

“A complaint has been lodged and an inquiry is under way,” said an aide to Macron, who has lived in the private residence at the Élysée Palace with her husband, Emmanuel, since his election in May 2017.

The fraudsters had failed in their attempts, the aide added.

News of the scam emerged on RTL radio, which said scores of emails had been sent under an address name – cabinetpresidence.fr, strikingly similar to official ones – requesting among other favours the best table at a plush five-star restaurant and tickets to the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Emails had been sent as far afield as Hong Kong and Morocco, raising concerns that the scam might be designed to damage her reputation, added RTL.

French presidential spouses do not enjoy official status in the way that happens in countries like the US.

But Macron does engage informally as an organiser or sponsor of various causes and events; one was a performance of the Peter and the Wolf classical musical where her husband did the narrating for an audience of children at the Élysée Palace. – Reuters

Brigitte Macron