Fake E-commerce: The Supreme Court and Digital Fraud

The distinction between civil breach and criminal offence is not academic: it determines the route of the claim, the deadlines and any limitation period. Judgment 22265/2025 of the Supreme Court draws a clear line on ground that victims of online scams had struggled to find.

The principle

The Supreme Court makes clear that whoever builds a credible 'digital facade' - a website simulating a commercial undertaking to induce consumers to buy - does not merely fail to honour the contract: it constitutes deception.

The characterisation is the most important part of the judgment for the victim: it brings criminal guarantees into play, the criminal limitation period, and the possibility of asserting rights in criminal proceedings.

Consequences for victims

The immediate consequence is the characterisation of the conduct as fraud, with everything that entails: the report has a criminal object and not merely a civil one, the reaction times are measured in terms of reporting rather than demands, and proof of the unlawful conduct is straightforward where the perpetrator built the infrastructure.

This is a point victims rarely grasp, tending to approach the seller rather than those who built the trap.

Identifying the responsible party

The next step is identifying who actually operated the platform and collected the payments. In a cross-border context this requires specific tools and the cooperation of the competent authorities. It is work done at the outset, and it conditions the effectiveness of everything that follows.

What to do in practice

Report to the Postal Police, identifying the website, the payment bank details and any evidence gathered: dated screenshots, correspondence, bank statements. Report to visu: the platform is often already reported and removed, but the report documents the sequence.

In civil proceedings, the contractual liability action remains available and should run alongside the criminal route. The antidote to paralysis is sequencing: gather documentary evidence from the outset, file the report, and run the civil and precautionary measures in parallel.