Fraudster pleads guilty to £100m iSpoof scam

A multi-million lb fraudster has pleaded blameworthy to a blase banking scam called iSpoof which stole £100m from victims worldwide.

At Southwark Crown Court, Tejay Fletcher admitted aggregate charges.

Last twelvemonth the Metropolitan Police texted 70,000 radical to pass them their details had been compromised and they had apt been defrauded.

The fraudsters called radical astatine random, pretending to beryllium a slope informing of suspicious enactment connected their accounts.

They would airs arsenic employees of banks including Barclays, Santander, HSBC, Lloyds, Halifax, First Direct, NatWest, Nationwide and TSB.

The fraudsters would promote radical to disclose information accusation and, done technology, whitethorn person accessed features specified arsenic one-time passcodes to wide accounts of funds.

This is the largest fraud probe the Metropolitan Police person ever carried out. In the UK unsocial £43m was lost. One unfortunate mislaid £3m.

Fletcher, 35, of Western Gateway successful eastbound London, pleaded blameworthy to moving the iSpoof website which allowed criminals and fraudsters to unreal to beryllium banks and taxation offices.

He admitted charges of making oregon supplying articles for usage successful fraud, encouraging oregon assisting the committee of an offence, possessing transgression spot and transferring transgression property.

"He was the ringleader of a slick fraud website which enabled criminals to defraud guiltless radical of millions of pounds," said Det Supt Helen Rance, who led the investigation.

"We are doing much than ever earlier to support Londoners from spoofing and cyber fraud and devised a bespoke program to scope retired to victims who were targeted via iSpoof."

Last year, erstwhile the fraud emerged, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the Met was contacting mobile numbers connected to the fraudsters for longer than a minute, suggesting a fraud oregon attempted fraud had taken place.

Criminals paid Fletcher for entree to his iSpoof website, transferring up to £5,000 a period successful Bitcoin. The Federal Bureau of Investigation successful the US took the tract down past year.

Fletcher volition beryllium sentenced connected 18 May astatine Southwark Crown Court.