President Francois Hollande leaves France's Defence Ministry. Photo: AFPCrooks masquerading as aides of French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian have defrauded a wealthy foreigner of "tens of millions of euros", the latest in a string of such scams, a judicial source said Thursday. The fraudsters called the man -- a rich industrialist -- in December and then sent him a fake letter that appeared to be signed by Le Drian, the source told AFP. African leaders, embassies and French companies, foundations and NGOs have all been targeted in some 180 scams or attempted scams reported by the defence ministry over the past year and a half. Investigators suspected an Israeli or Franco-Israeli syndicate of being behind the hoaxes.

Source: The Local February 03, 2017 07:34 UTC