A magistrate on Sunday charged a 22-year-old man suspected of sexual attacks on women he followed on an e-scooter in the French city of Grenoble, legal officials said.

The suspect "was charged with two rapes, one attempted rape, one attempted sexual assault, two acts of aggravated violence and one act of aggravated extortion", the man's lawyer Arnaud Levy Soussan told AFP.

The charges were confirmed by Grenoble's prosecutor office.

A man dressed in black and riding a black e-scooter, followed potential victims before carrying out the attacks in February and March, prosecutors said.

Investigators tracked the former e-scooter salesman through CCTV footage of his customised black scooter and a trace of his telephone near the attacks, according to a source close to the case.

The man was taken into custody on Friday at Grenoble police station after being hunted for the past week.

Police used a summons for checks on his e-scooter to get him to present himself but arrested him over the rapes.

He was also identified for one of the rape cases by DNA, according to prosecutors.