French police warn of crypto scam

The National Police in France issued a warning on October 29, 2026, about a scam involving fake letters sent in the name of the Direction générale des finances publiques (DGFiP), targeting individuals who hold cryptocurrencies. The letters, which mimic official documents, claim to be "notices" related to the declaration obligations on digital assets and direct recipients to register on a supposed "Digital Assets Portal" by scanning a QR code before October 29, under threat of penalties such as fines or increased tax liability.

QR code leads to fraudulent site

The QR code leads to a fraudulent domain, reglement2026.com, which is not affiliated with the tax administration. This domain has been flagged as malicious on VirusTotal, a service that aggregates security analyses. The scam involves an interface that visually replicates a government website, prompting victims to enter their tax identifiers and the recovery phrase of their digital wallet.

Scammers target sensitive information

The recovery phrase, which is used to restore a digital wallet on any device, grants scammers direct access to the cryptocurrencies stored within. The National Police emphasized that the recovery phrase should never be shared with anyone, as neither the tax administration nor a wallet provider would request it.

How to verify official communications

In case of doubt regarding a letter's authenticity, the police recommend visiting the official tax website directly by typing impots.gouv.fr into the browser. The procedures and messages sent by the administration are available in each taxpayer's personal space. No information has been provided on the number of people targeted by this campaign or whether it is a mass mailing or specifically targets cryptocurrency holders.