At one point, up to twenty persons per minute were targeted by calls utilizing technology purchased from the website, with one victim losing £3 million.
A phone number spoofing website used by criminals to defraud thousands of victims out of millions of pounds has been shut down by the largest anti-fraud operation ever conducted in the United Kingdom.
British law enforcement agents participated in a global operation to shut down ispoof. cc, a website described as an online fraud store by authorities.
They collaborated with Dutch law enforcement, which was able to discreetly tap the website’s servers in the Netherlands to listen to phone calls.
At one time, up to 20 persons every minute were targeted by callers using technology purchased from the website, which reportedly produced more than £3 million in profit.
After learning about it through advertisements placed on Telegram channels, criminals utilized the website to purchase technology that allowed them to hide their phone numbers.
This allowed them to convince victims that they were being contacted by their bank and to obtain personal information that enabled them to steal money.
One victim lost £3 million, while the average loss among the 4,787 individuals who reported being targeted by Action Fraud was £10,000. Police estimate up to £48m has been stolen.
Approximately 200,000 victims worldwide
It is estimated that there are many more potential victims – over 200,000 worldwide, with a large proportion of calls made in the United Kingdom and the United States.
40% of 10 million fake calls originated in the United States, 35% in the United Kingdom, and the remaining 60% in other nations.
There have been 120 arrests thus far, including 103 in London and 17 elsewhere.
This includes the suspected administrator of the site, 35-year-old Teejay Fletcher, who was arrested in east London earlier this month and faces criminal accusations.
According to the police, Fletcher, who is believed to be a member of a criminal organization, led a wealthy lifestyle.
On Thursday and Friday, the Metropolitan Police will send a text message to around 70,000 phone lines in the United Kingdom that were dialed by offenders who utilized the website, requesting that they contact the force.
If a communication arrives after that time, however, it will not be from the force.
Sir Mark Rowley, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, stated that the number of potential British victims was “exceptional.”
Ispoof was formed in December 2020, and at its peak, it had 59,000 customers who could pay for the malicious software using Bitcoin, with monthly fees ranging from £150 to $5,000.
In June 2021, the British police began investigating the site.
