Fake caller app shut after thieves duped thousands

The UK's National Crime Agency has shut down an online platform that it says was used by criminals to steal money from thousands of people around the world.

The Russian Coms platform allowed fraudsters to pretend to be callers from a bank or telecoms firm in order to steal money or personal details, the NCA said.

The body said that between 2021 and 2024, over 1.3 million calls were made by Russian Coms users to 500,000 unique UK phone numbers.

About 170,000 people in the UK are believed to be victims, with the average reported loss more than £9,400.

The NCA said the platform had been used to make calls to people in 107 different countries around the world, although it did not give an estimate for how many global victims there were.

The agency said it had arrested three people over the platform, who have been released on conditional bail.

The Russian Coms platform was established in 2021. It was available as a handset and then a web app, and allowed the user to make calls that suggested they were coming from a reputable company.

Some of the scams included criminals "spoofing" the number of a bank to pretend to be a legitimate caller, before persuading the victim to transfer money out of their account.

Fraudsters also impersonated companies to steal money for goods that were never delivered.

The NCA said the handset could only be used to make spoofed calls, although it was loaded with fake apps to make it look like an everyday smartphone.

The web app cost £350 a month, with payments to be made using cryptocurrency.

The NCA said fraud now accounts for about 40% of all crime against individuals in England and Wales, with over 80% of it believed to be technology-enabled.

“Criminals are increasingly using technology to carry out fraud and other crimes on an industrial scale, causing very real harm to victims in the UK and across the world," said Adrian Searle, director of the National Economic Crime Centre within the NCA.

“The NCA and our partners here in the UK and overseas are going after both the criminals and the technology they exploit."

Earlier this year, police broke up a gang accused of using a technology service that helped criminals use fraudulent text messages to steal from victims.

The Labhost site allowed scammers without technical skills to bombard victims with messages designed to trick them into making payments online.