Three fraudsters who used a SIM farm to con £220k from victims by sending out masses of fraudulent texts and calls have been jailed.
Londoners Emanuel Oxford-Faparusi, 23, Syrus Johnson-Faparusi, 25, and Uchechukwu Orjih, 21, worked together to message and call victims to convince them to hand over money and banking details between August 2022 and March 2024.
The texts and calls would pose as being from a bank, deceiving customers into believing their account was compromised and encouraging them to transfer money into a ‘safe account’ which was controlled by the fraudsters.
Once customers provided their card details, the trio would use them to make fraudulent online purchases, as well as send money to mule accounts which they controlled and withdraw the funds from there.
In total, they conned victims out of £223,183.53. The three men were sentenced at Inner London Crown Court to a combined six years and nine months.
The sentencing follows an investigation and arrest by specialist banking industry sponsored police unit, the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU).
Through the police’s investigation, the DCPCU recovered two SIM farms from Oxford-Faparusi home.
They also found multiple computers and phones which contained phishing website templates, smishing software, and around 160,000 sets of personal and financial data from victims.
Orjih was identified as being an accomplice through messages with Oxford-Faparusi.
Police were also able to recover stolen personal data and scripts used to commit fraud when contacting victims in Orjih’s possession.
Oxford-Faparusi received 42 months in prison, while Johnson-Faparusi received 18 months. Orjih received a 21-month sentence, suspended for two years.
All three were imposed with Criminal Behaviour Orders for a period of five years.
Detective Constable David Hughes said: “These fraudsters worked in unison to steal over £220,000 through huge volumes of fraudulent texts and calls to manipulate banking customers into handing over their money and banking details.
“These criminals are deceitful and will stop at nothing to steal from hard-working people. We are thankful that through the collaborative efforts of the banking industry and police, we were able to prevent these criminals from causing further harm to society.”
