Short answer: France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi) and the Mon Compte Formation service do send you genuine text messages — interview notices, workshop reminders, login codes, monthly status updates. These messages arrive from a short code or an alphanumeric sender ID, are free to receive, and never ask for your password, your full social security number, bank details or a payment. Any text message promising to "unlock", "convert" or "rescue" your CPF entitlements in exchange for filling in a form is a scam: forward it to 33700.
Updated 29 October 2026.
There are two kinds of people who receive these messages. Those genuinely registered with France Travail, in training or retraining — for whom a missed message can have very real consequences. And those who asked for nothing, but whose number sits in some prospecting database somewhere.
Scammers have worked out that both audiences react. The first because they're expecting a message. The second because "you have €2,487 in training entitlements available" is a hard sentence to ignore.
Does France Travail really send text messages?
Yes. For several years now, SMS has been an official channel for communicating with jobseekers. France Travail uses it in particular to:
- remind you that an interview or a workshop is scheduled (date, time, branch office);
- let you know that a letter or document is available in your personal account;
- remind you of the monthly status update window, between the 28th of the month and the 15th of the next;
- send a verification code when you log in or create an account;
- pass on a job offer or an invitation to a recruitment fair, when you've opted in to that kind of alert.
These notifications are configured from your personal account on francetravail.fr, under "Mon profil" / contact preferences. If you're getting too many messages, that's where you turn them off — not by replying to the message.
The key point: a France Travail text message informs, it doesn't process anything. It directs you back to your personal account or to your adviser. Never to an external form asking for your credentials.
What does a genuine France Travail text message look like?
The message is short, impersonal, free of manufactured urgency, and most often contains no link at all — or else a link to a francetravail.fr domain. Here's a typical structure:
"Hello, this is a reminder of your interview on 05/11 at 2:00 pm at the [town] branch. If you are unable to attend, please notify your adviser via your personal account."
What should put you on alert in a message claiming to come from France Travail:
| Element of the message | Genuine message | Scam signal |
|---|---|---|
| Sender | Short code (3xxxx) or alphanumeric name | Mobile number starting 06/07, or +33 6 with a foreign prefix |
| Link | None, or a francetravail.fr domain | Unknown domain, shortener (bit.ly), near-miss spelling |
| Request | Check your account, contact your adviser | Password, bank details, card number, ID document |
| Tone | Neutral, administrative | "Final reminder", "within 24 hrs", "immediate removal from the register" |
| Amount | Never any sum to pay | "Processing fee", "€1.90 verification charge" |
Any mention of a payment, however absurdly small, is the most reliable marker of all. No France Travail procedure requires you to pay anything by text message.
Why are "CPF" text messages almost always fraudulent?
Because cold marketing around the personal training account is banned by law. Law no. 2022-1587 of 19 December 2022 prohibits commercial prospecting — by phone, SMS, email or messaging app — aimed at promoting CPF-eligible training. In other words: a text message that talks about your CPF entitlements and offers you a course, an assessment, an "unlocking" or a "conversion" is, by definition, breaking the law.
The genuine service is called Mon Compte Formation and it's run by the Caisse des dépôts. It communicates essentially through the moncompteformation.gouv.fr website and the official mobile app. It may send you a login code by text, or a notification linked to an enrolment file you opened yourself. It does not cold-call you.
The most common variants of fraudulent messages:
- "Your CPF entitlements expire on 31/12, last chance to use them."
- "A balance of €2,487 is available in your training account. Click to unlock it."
- "Your training file has been suspended, please confirm your identity."
- "New reform: your entitlements will be converted into euros, update your account."
The common thread: a made-up deadline. Entitlements credited to a CPF are not subject to an annual expiry date. That urgency exists for one reason only — to stop you thinking.
What the scammer is actually after
With a fake CPF text message, the goal isn't an immediate bank transfer. It's access to your account. With your social security number, your FranceConnect login and a code received by text that you type into a fake page, the scammer enrols you in a fictitious training file with a complicit provider. Your entitlements disappear, the course never takes place, and you discover the hole months later.
This is exactly the mechanism we describe in our article on verification codes used to take over an account: the code isn't stolen, it's requested, and it's the victim who hands it over.
One simple habit avoids most of these situations: never enter a code anywhere other than in the app or site you have just opened yourself. For genuinely sensitive accounts, a FIDO2 security key removes the SMS code from the equation altogether, since there's nothing left to type in.
How can you check an appointment notice without clicking?
In three steps, without ever touching the link.
- Open your personal account yourself. Type
francetravail.frinto your browser or use the official app. Any genuine appointment notice will appear there, under "Mes échanges avec France Travail" or in the calendar. If nothing shows up, the message is fake. - Call 3949. This is France Travail's official number for jobseekers. An adviser can confirm in seconds whether an appointment exists in your name.
- Compare with your previous messages. Genuine messages from the same sender arrive in the same conversation thread, under the same sender ID. An isolated message, in a new conversation, signed off differently, is suspicious.
One caveat, though: the conversation thread is not absolute proof. Sender ID spoofing makes it possible to slip a fake message into a genuine conversation — a phenomenon covered in detail in our article on sender spoofing and text messages that appear in the right thread. The only reliable test remains checking on the official site, opened by you.
What if the appointment is genuine and I missed it?
Don't let the doubt fester: an unexplained absence from an interview can lead to removal from the register. Contact your adviser via your personal account or on 3949 and explain the situation. Having suspected a scam isn't an automatic excuse, but a prompt report is always better received than silence.
For anyone actively job-hunting, keeping a written record of every step makes a big difference if there's ever a dispute. An application tracking notebook, even a basic one, is enough to reconstruct a timeline your memory won't hold on to.
Text messages from training providers: legitimate or not?
A training provider can legitimately write to you if you are already enrolled with them: session reminders, video conference links, attendance sheets, exam notices. That's an existing contractual relationship, governed by the GDPR like any service communication.
What they can't do: cold-call you about the CPF. Even if the provider genuinely holds Qualiopi certification, even if the course really exists, the channel is illegal. The CNIL has fined players in the sector on several occasions for prospecting without consent; its decisions are published on cnil.fr.
Two borderline cases deserve attention:
- You left your number on a course comparison site. You may then have consented to being contacted again. The messages are legal in principle, but mentioning the CPF is still prohibited. Reply STOP — in our article on how effective STOP really is we explain what that word actually triggers, depending on the sender.
- You applied for a job. Some fake recruiters follow up with a "compulsory pre-employment training course", at your expense. It's a classic set-up, closely related to the fake recruitment schemes we've documented elsewhere.
Which numbers do these services actually use?
France Travail and the Caisse des dépôts go through professional messaging platforms (A2P messaging). Short codes change as public contracts are awarded, and no exhaustive official list is published. That's precisely why you shouldn't base your judgement on the number alone.
Two useful markers nonetheless:
- A legitimate service message in France arrives from a five-digit short code (ranges 3xxxx, 2xxxx, 6xxxx) or from an alphanumeric sender ID — a name in letters, which can't be replied to. Our page on short codes and what they mean sets out the ranges and their pricing.
- A public body will never write to you from a personal 06 or 07 number. If one does, it's either a scam or an adviser using their work mobile — which remains possible but never involves a request for personal data.
For the general logic of reading a sender ID, the article Where did this text message come from? lays out the full method.
What should you actually do with a fake France Travail or CPF message?
In this order, and without rushing:
- Don't click, don't reply. Replying to a fraudulent campaign confirms your number as active.
- Forward the message to 33700. This is the official platform for reporting SMS spam and fraud, free from all four French carriers. The service sends back a text asking for the sender's number: forward that too. Our article on what happens to your report to 33700 explains the rest of the chain.
- Report the phishing site on the Phishing Initiative platform and, if you've handed over data, on cybermalveillance.gouv.fr.
- Block the sender in your messaging app, then delete the message — after reporting it, not before.
If you've already entered your credentials
Act within the hour:
- change your password immediately on
francetravail.frandmoncompteformation.gouv.fr, from a device you open yourself; - check your enrolment history in Mon Compte Formation: any file you don't recognise must be cancelled and reported without delay;
- if you've given out a bank card number, call your bank to block the card;
- file a complaint at a police or gendarmerie station, with screenshots. Digital identity theft is a criminal offence under Article 226-4-1 of the French Penal Code.
A detailed timeline of the right moves is set out in the 72 hours after a booby-trapped text message.
One hardware precaution is well worth it when you're managing a career change from your phone: a password manager limits the damage, because it won't offer to auto-fill a login on a domain that isn't the right one. It's a silent safety net, more reliable than human vigilance at 7 am. In the same spirit, a privacy screen filter stops a code received in a branch waiting room from being read by the person next to you.
Why is my number targeted when I'm not even looking for work?
Because these campaigns don't target anyone in particular. They're blasted out across number ranges, sometimes generated sequentially. The CPF potentially concerns everyone in or formerly in work in France: the apparent "relevance" rate is therefore enormous, which makes the campaign profitable even with a very low click rate.
Add to that data leaks and the resale of contact lists. If your number has been circulating since you filled in a comparison-site form, entered a prize draw or appeared in a compromised database, you'll get these waves more often than average. The method for checking and limiting exposure is described in our guide to leaked phone numbers.
A simple separation durably cuts down the noise: one number for family, friends and sensitive accounts, another for forms and sign-ups. A prepaid SIM card or a secondary eSIM is enough for the second use.
FAQ
Can France Travail remove me from the register by text message?
No. A decision to remove you from the register is the subject of a reasoned written notification, available in your personal account and sent by post or email. A text message may flag that a letter is available, but it will never announce the decision itself or ask you to pay to avoid it.
Do my CPF entitlements have an expiry date?
No, the entitlements you've earned remain credited to the account. Messages announcing expiry "on 31 December" or an "automatic conversion" exploit a groundless fear. The only reliable reference: the balance shown on moncompteformation.gouv.fr.
Is calling 3949 chargeable?
Since 2019, calls to 3949 have been free from landlines and mobiles in metropolitan France; only any call cost under your own plan applies. Official pricing is set out on francetravail.fr.
I received a genuine login code without having requested anything. What should I do?
Don't share it with anyone and don't enter it anywhere. It often means someone is trying to log into your account with your username. Change your password immediately and, if the attempts continue, report it to the service concerned.
Can a training provider contact me by text message legally?
Yes, if a contractual relationship already exists (you're enrolled in a session) or if you've consented to being contacted again. But any prospecting that mentions the CPF has been prohibited since the law of 19 December 2022, whatever the channel.
Key takeaway: France Travail and Mon Compte Formation write to you to send you back to your personal account, never to get you to fill in an external form. As soon as a text message mentions money, identity to be confirmed or entitlements about to expire, the right response comes down to two moves: open the official site yourself, and forward the message to 33700. For borderline cases, the page recognising SMS scams brings together the most common message templates.
