Proactive Investors - Customers of Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY), Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) and other big banks will be contacted by the Metropolitan Police after a scam that is being called the UK’s biggest online fraud.
Using the iSpoof software, which was advertised to criminals on the dark web and via encrypted chat apps, an estimated 50,000 criminals scammed at least £50mln from around 200,000 victims in the UK.
As many as 20 people a minute were being targeted by callers whose identity appeared to be that of their bank, using the iSpoof technology.
The software to have been sold by east-London ‘criminal mastermind’ Teejai Fletcher, who has been charged with fraud and is in custody following his arrest earlier this month.
His case comes before Southwark Crown Court on December 6.
Using the iSpoof software allowed scammers to pose as representatives of banks including Lloyds, Barclays PLC, NatWest Group PLC (LON:NWG), HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA), Nationwide Building Society, Santander (BME:SAN), TSB and others.
Criminals would would worry victims about fraudulent activity on their bank accounts and trick them into sharing their share six-digit banking passcodes, allowing their accounts to be emptied, according to Met cyber crime officers.
Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley said the arrest showed that police were “reinventing” the way fraud was investigated.
“The Met is targeting the criminals at the centre of these illicit webs that cause misery to thousands,” he said.
An average loss of £10,000 was reported to Action Fraud, with the biggest loss for any victim reported to be £3mln.
Only 4,785 people have reported losses to Action Fraud, the national reporting centre.