Scotland Yard’s cybercrime unit shut down the fraudulent website iSpoof and arrested more than a hundred people involved after examining cryptocurrency transactions.
iSpoof allowed fraudsters to impersonate officials of banks including Barclays, Santander, HSBC, Lloyds, Halifax, First Direct, Natwest, Nationwide and TSB. The criminals paid for the service in bitcoins.
According to a police report, the perpetrators earned more than £3.2 million ($3.9 million) in 20 months of operation. The number of potential victims amounts to more than 200,000 people in the UK alone. The scam has already been called the largest in the country.
Tracking bitcoin transactions that were used to pay for iSpoof services allowed the cybercrime unit to narrow down the suspects. They spent at least £100 worth of cryptocurrency on the site.
The investigation into iSpoof began in June 2021 with the assistance of U.S. and Ukrainian authorities.
A list of suspects has been handed over to the authorities in the Netherlands, Australia, France and Ireland. The police do not rule out further arrests in the case.
Earlier it became known about Corinne Kopf’s leaked photos.
