The UK's National Crime Agency has shut down a platform used by hundreds of criminals to defraud victims across the world through the use of spoofed phone calls.
Russian Coms, established in 2021, is thought to be behind financial losses in the tens of millions. An estimated 170,000 people across the UK are believed to be victims.
The platform allowed criminals to hide their identity by appearing to call from pre-selected numbers, most commonly of financial institutions, telecommunications companies and law enforcement agencies.
Between 2021 and 2024, over 1.3 million calls were made by Russian Coms users to 500,000 unique UK phone numbers. Of those who reported to Action Fraud, the average loss is over £9,400.
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.
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 smartphone 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 being activated. 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.
Adrian Searle, Director of the National Economic Crime Centre within the National Crime Agency, says: “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.
“Whilst 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."
Three individuals have been arrested by the NCA, two of whom are believed to have been involved in the creation and development of the platform. They have been released on conditional bail. Searle says law enforcement partners in the UK and overseas, supported by Europol, will take joint action against users over the coming months.