You have probably already received a text message or a call concerning your CPF rights or to encourage or even force you to follow a training course and use your CPF balance. But be careful, these messages are not always friendly...
What is the CPF?
The Personal Training Account (CPF) is a system put in place by the State following the law on the freedom to choose one's professional future. It allows all working French people to accumulate training rights throughout their lives and these credits remain available throughout their professional career. These rights are recorded in euros on the CPF, which can be consulted on the website or the mobile application Mon Compte Formation. There you will find the catalogue of eligible professional training courses that you can register for. These professional training courses are accessible to working people who wish to develop their skills, retrain, adapt to new market developments or move up the career ladder...
How to spot a scam on your CPF?
The practice of commercial telephone canvassing is not currently prohibited in France. This is why it is important to be wary of these practices, which are becoming more and more widespread. These abusive canvassings take the form of regular phone calls, multiple emails or SMS asking for your contact details or social security number. In other cases, the fraudster has your contact details and registers you directly for training courses that you have never taken.
You are the only person authorised to log on to your Personal Training Account and register for a training offer.
What measures have been taken to counter these scams and fraud?
Faced with these scams, you must certainly be vigilant but you should not become too worried. Indeed, these fraud attempts are only successful in a few cases as this practice is becoming more and more known, so potential victims are more attentive.
Since January 2020, the Caisse des dépôts et Consignations has been fully mobilised with the State services to fight against abusive canvassing and fraud. Firstly, CPF holders who are victims of abusive canvassing must report this abuse in the dedicated section on the "Mon Compte Formation" website. These abusive commercial practices will be systematically prosecuted once they are reported. Secondly, coordination between the CDC, the administration and the justice system has been strengthened. A specific unit was therefore created as soon as the first reports of fraud were made. Also, the CDC has strengthened its general conditions of use and introduced the obligation to connect via France Connect before any purchase of training, which makes it possible to limit identity theft. You should also know that if your rights have been stolen, the CDC allows you to recover them by reporting your theft. Finally, these scams are becoming increasingly rare and therefore represent only a tiny part of the training sector, which is now highly regulated, particularly with the obligation for training organisations to have Qualiopi quality certification. This is another step towards preventing these fraud attempts.
Moreover, out of 38 million credited accounts, the CPF has enabled 4 million training courses to be carried out and, in the face of this, some thirty complaints have been lodged against fraudulent training organisations and 10,000 accounts have been the subject of attempted fraud. Dishonest organisations are certainly present, but they are far from being in the majority, which is why we should not make a generalization and forget that most organisations are present on the market with a benevolent aim. Indeed, many training organisations want to help learners and provide them with a pleasant training experience adapted to their needs. These training organisations represent the vast majority of the world of professional training despite the bad buzz that the CPF has experienced in recent months.
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