The fake French minister in a silicone mask who stole millions
戴着硅膠面具的冒牌法國部長騙走鉅額

來源：BBC 翻譯：世界播

The real Jean-Yves Le Drian is on the left, while the fake Le Drian sits behind a desk in a makeshift office

左邊是真正的讓-伊夫·勒德里安，假的勒德里安坐在一個臨時辦公室的桌子後面

Identity theft is said to be the world's fastest-growing crime, but in sheer chutzpah there can be few cons to match the story of the fake French minister and his silicone mask.

身份盜竊據說是世界上增長最快的犯罪行爲，但就膽大妄爲而言，幾乎沒有什麼罪犯能比得上這位假的法國部長和他的硅膠面具。

For two years from late 2015, an individual or individuals impersonating France's defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, scammed an estimated €80m (£70m; $90m) from wealthy victims including the Aga Khan and the owner of Château Margaux wines.

從2015年末開始的兩年時間裏，一個或多個人冒充法國國防部長讓-伊夫•勒德里安從富有的受害者手中詐騙了約8000萬歐元（合7000萬英鎊；9000萬美元），受害者包括富商阿迦汗和瑪歌酒莊所有者。

The hustle required targets to believe they were being contacted by Mr Le Drian, who then requested financial help to pay ransoms for journalists being held hostage by Islamists in the Middle East.

騙子讓被害者以爲是勒德里安與他們取得了聯繫，然後請求財政援助，爲在中東被伊斯蘭主義者劫持爲人質的記者支付贖金。

Since France officially does not pay ransoms to hostage-takers, the fake Le Drian assured payments could not be traced and asked for the funds to be placed in a bank in China.

由於法國官方不向劫持者支付贖金，假的勒德里安保證無法追蹤付款，並要求將款項存入中國的一家銀行。

Many of those approached smelled a rat and rang off.

許多被聯繫到的人發現有貓膩就掛斷了電話。

But, some didn't - enough for it to become one of the most outlandish and successful rackets of recent times.

但是，有些人沒有——這就促成了近來其中一樁古怪而成功的詐騙案。

Why impersonate a minister?

爲什麼要冒充部長？

"Everything about the story is exceptional," said Delphine Meillet, lawyer to Mr Le Drian, who is now France's foreign minister.

勒德里安的律師德爾菲娜•梅萊表示：“這個故事一切都很特別。”勒德里安目前是法國外長。

"They dared to take on the identity of a serving French minister. Then they called up CEOs and heads of government round the world and asked for vast amounts of money. The nerve of it!"

“他們敢於以法國在職部長的身份出現。然後他們打電話給世界各地的首席執行官和政府首腦，要求鉅額資金。膽子真大！”

Why Jean-Yves Le Drian was chosen has not been fully explained.

爲什麼選擇讓-伊夫·勒德里安還沒有得到充分解釋。

Presumably the fact that as defence minister he might be in charge of ransom demands was part if it, but another factor may have been his relative obscurity.

作爲國防部長，他可能負責索要贖金，這或許是原因之一，但另一個因素可能是他相對默默無聞。

Before 2012, Mr Le Drian had been a Socialist politician in Brittany. Someone with a higher international profile would have been harder to carry off.

2012年之前，勒德里安是布列塔尼的一名社會主義政治家。如果一個人在國際上有更高的知名度，那麼他就更難被騙子冒充。

Whodunnit?

誰是真兇？

The case is now under judicial investigation in France, with suspicions centring on a convicted French-Israeli con-artist called Gilbert Chikli.

此案目前正在法國接受司法調查，懷疑的焦點集中在一名被定罪的法裔以色列騙子吉爾伯特·奇克利身上。

He is currently in jail in Paris following extradition from Ukraine and faces charges of organised fraud and usurpation of identity.

從烏克蘭引渡後，他目前在巴黎監獄，面臨有組織欺詐和盜用身份的指控。

Chikli, of Tunisian Jewish background, grew up in the working-class Belleville neighbourhood of northeast Paris.

奇克利有突尼斯猶太人背景，在巴黎東北部的貝爾維爾工人階級社區長大。

How easy is it to fake a famous face?

僞造名人的臉有多容易？

In 2015, Chikli was found guilty of scamming money out of French corporations by pretending to be their chief executive. But by this time he was living in the safety of Israel, which refuses to extradite its nationals.

2015年，奇克利被判假扮法國公司首席執行官，從法國公司騙取資金。但此時他生活在安全的以色列，以色列拒絕引渡其國民。

According to investigators, Chikli's first move against the minister came shortly after his conviction in a bid to get the Tunisian government to pay for a number of Tiger helicopters that had never actually been ordered.

據調查人員稱，奇克利對這位部長的第一次行動是在他被定罪後不久，他試圖讓突尼斯政府爲實際上從未訂購過的虎式直升機付錢。

A contract apparently signed by the minister demanded millions of euros, but was spotted as a fake at the last moment.

一份顯然由部長簽署的合同要求支付數百萬歐元，但在最後一刻被發現是僞造的。

The fraud then switched direction, targeting "friends of France", who were asked to contribute to the ransoms.

隨後，欺詐行爲轉向了“法國之友”，他們被要求提供贖金。

According to Ms Meillet, there were scores of calls to business leaders and heads of African governments, but also to church leaders such as the Archbishop of Bordeaux and charities like the Aids foundation, Sidaction.

據梅萊女士說，騙子給商界領袖和非洲政府首腦打了幾十個電話，也給波爾多大主教等教會領袖和艾滋病基金會Sidaction等慈善機構打了電話。

How the scam worked

騙局是如何運作的

The system started with an initial telephone call from someone claiming to be a member of Mr Le Drian's inner circle, such as his special adviser Jean-Claude Mallet. This person would then arrange a conversation with the "minister" himself.

該騙局始於一個自稱是勒德里安核心圈子成員的人的首次電話，比如他的特別顧問讓-克勞德•馬利特。然後，這個人將安排與“部長”本人進行對話。

Initially these "ministerial" calls were also over the phone. But then - in an effort to be more convincing - the scam went up a level, to video.

最初，這些“部長”通話都是通過電話進行的。但爲了更有說服力，這一騙局又升級到了視頻層面。

Now the fake Le Drian not only had to sound like the defence minister, he had to look like him, too.

現在，這個假的勒德里安不僅要聽起來像國防部長，而且還要長得像他。

So, in meetings arranged on Skype, the fraudster wore a custom-made Le Drian mask and sat in a facsmile of Le Drian's ministerial office, complete with flags and portrait of then-President François Hollande.

因此，在通過Skype安排的會議上，這名詐騙犯戴着定製的勒德里安面具，面帶微笑地坐在勒德里安的部長辦公室裏，辦公室裏掛着旗幟和時任總統弗朗索瓦·奧朗德的畫像。

The ruse would still have been detectable, but the gang - it's assumed they were several - had the impostor badly lit and at some distance from the camera.

這個詭計還是可以被覺察到的，但是這夥人——假設他們是幾個人——讓照在冒充者身上的光線很暗，並且離攝像機有一段距離。

They also made sure the connection was bad and only lasted a short time - just enough to put out the bait.

他們還確保網絡連接很差，並且只持續了很短的時間——剛好足夠把誘餌放出來。

"Looking back now I ask myself a lot of questions. But it did look like him!" Guy-Petrus Lignac, of the Petrus wine dynasty, told a France Télévisions documentary.

“現在回想起來，我有很多疑問。但那確實很像他！”帕圖斯葡萄酒王朝的蓋-帕圖斯·利尼亞克在接受法國電視臺紀錄片採訪時表示。

"And he was asking for my help as a service for the state! It's scary because maybe if he had asked for less money, I might have said yes."

“他請求我的幫助，爲國家服務！這很可怕，因爲如果他少要些錢，我可能會答應。”

Ms Meillet has a long list of victims whose names are attached to the judicial dossier.

梅萊女士有一長串受害者名單，他們的名字附在司法檔案上。

For obvious reasons none wished to talk. Of the €80m that was scammed, more than half the sum came from an unnamed Turkish businessman. The Aga Khan lost €18m.

顯然，沒有人願意談被騙的事。在被騙的8000萬歐元中，超過一半來自一位未透露姓名的土耳其商人。富商阿迦汗虧損了1800萬歐元。

One who did not fall for the trap was Senegalese leader Macky Sall.

塞內加爾領導人馬基·薩勒沒有上當。

This was because the fake Le Drian made the basic error of addressing the president with the polite French vous. In fact the two men know each other well, and when talking together use the familiar tu.

這是因爲假的勒德里安犯了一個基本的錯誤，用禮貌的法語vous（您）稱呼他。事實上，這兩個人彼此都很瞭解，在一起交談時都用熟悉的tu（你）。

How Chikli was brought back to France

奇克利是如何被帶回法國的

Chikli's luck ran out in August 2017 when he made the mistake of travelling to Ukraine.

奇克利的好運在2017年8月耗盡，當時他做了錯誤決定，前往烏克蘭。

Arrested at the request of the French, he told police he was on a pilgrimage to the tomb of a well-known rabbi. But on his phone was evidence he had come to buy a mask.

應法國人的要求被捕後，他告訴警方，他正在前往一位著名拉比的墳墓朝聖。但在他的電話裏有證據表明他是來買面具的。

In prison in Kiev, Chikli lived up to his reputation as a man of massive narcissism.

在基輔的監獄裏，奇克利不負自戀狂的名聲。

He paid guards to get him a fridge stocked with steaks and vodka, and then showed it off in a foul-mouthed, social media video in which he also taunted the French justice system.

他花錢請保安給他買了一個裝滿牛排和伏特加的冰箱，然後在一段滿嘴髒話的社交媒體視頻中炫耀了一番。在視頻中，他還嘲諷了法國的司法體系。

That may have been a bad idea. Released, he was almost immediately re-arrested and this time extradited to France.

那可能是個壞主意。獲釋後，他幾乎立即再次被捕，這次被引渡到法國。

There the story would normally end, except for a strange coda.

故事通常會在這裏結束，但還有一個奇怪的結尾。

Because earlier this year, with Chikli safely behind bars, the con started again.

因爲今年早些時候，隨着奇克利入獄，這個騙局又開始了。

Reports began to arrive at embassies that once again a fake Le Drian, by now French foreign minster, was trying to finagle money out of influential "friends of France".

各大使館接到報道稱，一個名叫勒德里安的冒牌人物，也就是現在的法國外交部長，正試圖從有影響力的“法國之友”那裏騙取錢財。

In February, three French-Israeli citizens were arrested near Tel Aviv.

今年2月，三名法以公民在特拉維夫附近被捕。

For now the calls have stopped.

目前詐騙電話已經停止。

But the suspicion has been raised that, far from there being a single con-artist, maybe there are several: a whole gang schooled in the art of being Jean-Yves Le Drian.

但有人懷疑，遠非只有一個騙子，或許還有幾個：一羣接受過假扮讓-伊夫•勒德里安良好培訓的團伙。