National Crime Agency shuts down major fraud platform Russian Coms

The platform allowed criminals to hide their identity by appearing to call from pre-selected numbers, most commonly those of financial institutions, telecommunications companies and law enforcement agencies. This enabled them to gain the trust of victims before stealing their money and personal details.

Between 2021 and this year, over 1.3 million calls were made by Russian Coms users to 500,000 unique UK phone numbers. Of those who reported these episodes to Action Fraud, the average loss totals over £9,400.

Three individuals have now been arrested, two of whom are believed to have been involved in the creation and development of the platform. They’ve been released on conditional bail.

Law enforcement partners in the UK and overseas, actively supported by Europol, will take joint action against users over the coming months.

Typical scam

Russian Coms was available as a handset and, latterly, as a web app, marketed through Snapchat, Instagram and Telegram. According to adverts shared across social media, the service included “unlimited minutes”, “hold music”, “encrypted phone calls”, “instant handset wipe”, international calls, voice changing services and 24/7 support.

An example of a typical scam involved offenders spoofing the number of a bank to gain the trust of a victim before convincing them that their account had been subject to fraudulent activity. They would then be persuaded to transfer their money to another account in order to safeguard it.

The fraudsters were able to access victims’ money in a number of ways. They impersonated reputable companies and stole funds for goods which were never delivered, gained full access to bank accounts and arranged for the collection of physical debit and credit cards from victims on the basis that they needed to be replaced.

Victims of all ages suffered losses. In fact, calls were made to individuals in 107 different countries around the world, including the USA, New Zealand, Norway, France and the Bahamas.

The handset could only be used to make spoofed calls. It was loaded with a number of fake applications that had no functionality to make it look like an everyday smart phone if seized by law enforcement. This was in addition to several VPN apps, allowing the user to hide their IP address, and a burn app that instantly wiped the phone after activation. A six-month contract cost between £1,200 and £1,400 depending on collection and delivery.

The web app was marketed as a ‘flagship service’, allowing full access to the Russian Coms web phone for £350 per month to be paid using cryptocurrency.

Series of arrests

In March, and following on from months of intelligence gathering and painstaking investigative work, two men (aged 26 and 28) were arrested by National Crime Agency officers in the London Borough of Newham. The duo are believed to be the Russian Coms platform’s developers and administrators. That month, the platform was taken down.

On 12 April, a suspected close affiliate and handset courier, specifically a 28-year-old man also from Newham, was then arrested. Recently, a further user was arrested in Potters Bar by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit. Action will continue over the coming months.

Adrian Searle, director of the National Economic Crime Centre within the National Crime Agency, said: “Criminals are increasingly using technology to carry out fraud and other crimes on an industrial scale, in turn causing very real harm to victims in the UK and across the world. The National Crime Agency and its partners here in the UK and overseas are going after both the criminals and the technology they exploit.”

Searle continued: “While this use of technology, which can be called ‘crime as a service’, promises anonymity, unbeknown to the criminal users the services also store the users’ data, so we can identify who they are and how they operate. Users of Russian Coms, and all those tempted to try out similar services, should know that these services cannot be trusted.”

Fraud accounts for approximately 40% of all crime against individuals in England and Wales, while over 80% of it is believed to be technology-enabled.

Devastating crime

Temporary Assistant Commissioner Nik Adams from the City of London Police observed: “Fraud is a devastating crime and can exert a huge impact on victims, both financially and psychologically, while at the same time impacting people’s trust in others and the services upon which they rely.”

Adams continued: “It’s absolutely imperative that everyone takes steps to protect themselves from fraud. If you receive a phone call out of the blue from your bank, financial provider or other official organisation, even if you do think it’s legitimate, hang up and redial the number on the back of your bank card. No official organisation will pressure you into making an immediate financial decision or put pressure on you to reveal your personal details.”

Lord Sir David Hanson, Minister of State at the Home Office with responsibility for fraud, commented: “Fraud is a crime that can devastate lives. Anyone can be affected. That’s why this action from the National Crime Agency, whereby it has shut down an illegal platform used by hundreds of criminals and disrupted the flow of funds that their networks rely on to operate, is so significant.”

Further, the Minister of State observed: “It sends a vital message to others committing fraud: law enforcement is monitoring you, you will be caught and you will be dealt with using the full force of the law. This new Government knows that more needs to be done to tackle fraud and we will continue to collaborate with law enforcement and industry to better protect the public and businesses from this appalling form of criminality.”