London’s Metropolitan Police has successfully led a major anti-fraud operation aimed at dismantling a notorious fraud site that has reportedly caused victims worldwide to lose over £100m ($121m).
The iSpoof website served as a platform for individuals to impersonate legitimate entities such as banks and government agencies, facilitating convincing vishing campaigns. Users were able to send recorded messages and intercept one-time passcodes, as revealed by Europol.
On average, victims lost around £10,000 each, with a staggering 10 million fraudulent calls made globally through iSpoof in the 12 months leading up to August 2022, with 3.5 million of those calls originating from the UK, according to the Metropolitan Police.
The operation resulted in the arrest of 142 individuals in November, with 100 of those arrests taking place in the UK. The main administrator of the website was apprehended in the UK on November 6, while the web server was seized by authorities in the US and Ukraine two days later, as confirmed by Europol.
Launched in December 2020, the iSpoof site quickly gained popularity, amassing a user base of 59,000 accounts. The Metropolitan Police’s Cyber Crime Unit commenced its investigation in June 2021 under Operation Elaborate, infiltrating the site to gather evidence.
Subsequent arrests were made possible following the seizure of the web server, which yielded a wealth of information contained in 70 million rows of data. Investigators are currently tracing Bitcoin payments made by users to the site’s administrators.
Law enforcement officials are prioritizing individuals who have spent a minimum of £100 in Bitcoin on the site for prosecution, with further arrests expected on a global scale.
Detective Superintendent Helen Rance, the Met Police’s cybercrime lead, emphasized the significance of shutting down iSpoof in preventing future offenses and safeguarding potential victims. She also warned criminals that law enforcement is actively pursuing them regardless of their location.
Europol’s executive director, Catherine De Bolle, reiterated the commitment to pursuing users of iSpoof relentlessly, dismantling the notion of international anonymity for cyber-criminals. The collaborative effort among law enforcement agencies has significantly enhanced intelligence gathering and operational effectiveness in targeting criminals worldwide.