The Metropolitan Police have arrested members of an international bank fraud operation who posed as representatives from the UK’s largest banks.

The international scam, operating through fraud website iSpoof, saw criminals target potential victims by pretending to call from banks – including Barclays, Santander, HSBC, Lloyds, Halifax, First Direct, NatWest, Nationwide and TSB – as well as tax offices and other official bodies.

The police said that victims are estimated to have lost tens of millions of pounds, while those behind the the website earned around £3.2 million over a 20-month period.

The police are contacting over 70,000 potential victims which they have linked to an identified suspect.

The website, which was created two years ago, has around 59,000 user accounts from around the world, with suspects found in the UK, Holland, Australia, France, and Ireland.

The Met have said they are focussing first on UK users and those who have spent at least £100 of Bitcoin on the site. But they are also working alongside Europol, Eurojust, the Dutch authorities and the FBI, with details of other suspects passed on to their law enforcement partners.

In the UK, more than 100 people have been arrested so far.

Earlier this month, the suspected organiser of the website was arrested in East London.

“Our message to criminals who have used this website is we have your details and are working hard to locate you, regardless of where you are,” said detective superintendent Helen Rance, who leads on cybercrime for the Met.

The average loss form those who were targeted by the scammers is believed to be £10,000.

In the 12 months until August this year, roughly 10 million fraudulent calls were made globally via the criminal website. Around 3.5 million of these calls were made in the UK.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said:

“The exploitation of technology by organised criminals is one of the greatest challenges for law enforcement in the 21st century," said commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.

He continued: “By taking away the tools and systems that have enabled fraudsters to cheat innocent people at scale, this operation shows how we are determined to target corrupt individuals intent on exploiting often vulnerable victims.”

Share Story: