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More than 100 people have been arrested in the UK’s biggest-ever fraud operation, which took down a website described as a “one-stop spoofing shop” used by scammers to steal millions of pounds from Britons through fake bank phone calls.
It is estimated that more than 200,000 potential victims were targeted by the iSpoof fraud website, which was taken down this week by Scotland Yard’s cybercrime unit with the help of US and Ukrainian authorities.
At one point around 20 people were being contacted every minute of the day using the site by scammers hiding behind false identities and it is estimated that criminals may have stolen around £50m. The actual amount is likely to be higher because fraud is often underreported.
One victim was scammed out of £3m, while the average amount stolen was £10,000. Scam shop operators are estimated to have made around £3.2m over a 20-month period.
Fraudsters paid for iSpoof, which was launched in December 2020, to allow them to hide their phone number and pretend to be calling from a trusted organization such as a bank or tax office. Scammers used Bitcoin to pay for the service.
They will then trick people into handing over money or giving them access to their bank accounts. Around 10 million fraudulent calls were made by iSpoof globally in the year to August, of which around 3.5m were made in the UK. Of these, 350,000 calls lasted more than one minute and were made to 200,000 individuals.
Users of the service, which was shut down this week, believed they were anonymous. However, that did not happen, and more than 100 people have been arrested so far as part of Operation Elaborate, mainly in London.
The arrests include the suspected mastermind behind the website, Teejai Fletcher, who police described as living a “luxurious” lifestyle.
Fletcher, 34, of Western Gateway, East London, was charged on November 7 with fraud, taking part in the activities of an organized crime group and making or supplying articles for use in the prosecution of criminal matters. He was remanded in custody and is due to appear at Southwark Crown Court on December 6.
The Met, which led the operation, began investigating iSpoof in June 2021, working with international law enforcement agencies including the US, the Netherlands and Ukraine to shut down the website.
Investigators hacked the website – which had 59,000 users – and found 70m rows of data and bitcoin records, allowing them to begin tracking down the suspects.
Because the pool of suspects is so large, the investigation initially focused on UK users and those who spent at least 100 bitcoins to use the site.
Det Supt Helen Rance, who leads cybercrime for the Met, said: “By removing iSpoof we have prevented more crimes and stopped fraudsters targeting future victims.
“Our message to criminals who use this website is that we have your details and are working hard to find you, wherever you are.”
Police have a list of phone numbers targeted by iSpoof fraudsters and will be contacting potential victims by text on Thursday and Friday. Any message received after November 25 is not from the police, it has been warned.
The text message will ask victims to visit the Met’s website to provide more details about their experience. It will not contain a clickable link.
Anyone who has not been contacted by Met but believes they have been the victim of a number-spoofing scam should report the incident to Action Fraud.
The police force said it plans to use the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover money where possible.
The Met Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, said: “By removing the tools and systems that enable fraudsters to defraud innocent people, this operation shows how we are often determined to target corrupt individuals with the intention of exploiting the vulnerable. “
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