iSpoof Mastermind Jailed for 13 Years

Tejay Fletcher, the mastermind behind fraud website iSpoof, has been arrested and jailed for 13 years in the U.K.'s biggest ever fraud sting. A £230,000 Lamborghini, two Range Rovers worth £110,000 and an £11,000 Rolex were just some of the purchases Fletcher made with the illicit gains from his share of the iSpoof website.

iSpoof previously offered criminals tools that enabled them to mask their phone number when making a call, so that they appeared to come from a trusted organisation. The criminals would often use the tools to pose as members of a bank or finance agency, conning victims around the world of at least £100m. The sale of the software netted the iSpoof administrators roughly £3.2m in bitcoin, with the "lion's share" of £2m going directly to Fletcher, said prosecutor John Ojakovoh.

Last month, Fletcher pleaded guilty to four criminal charges, including the creation or supply of an article for use in fraud, encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, possession of criminal property, and transferring criminal property. The charges covered a period of time between 30 November 2020 and 8 November 2022.

This Friday, Judge Sally Cahill KC sentenced Fletcher to a total of 13 years and four months in prison, stating that "For all the victims it was a harrowing experience." One victim lost £3m, and 4,785 people reported falling victim to the fake financial calls, losing an average of £10,000, according to police.

The judge reported that the victims suffered sleeplessness, depression, and fallout with family, not to mention the damage to business and personal financial loss. She told Fletcher that he "didn't care" about the victims, drawing attention to his 18 previous convictions for 36 different offences.

"The late expression of remorse is regret for being caught rather than empathy for your victims. The evidence in my view shows very clearly you had a leading role and an active role in creating a sophisticated article for fraud, which generated a substantial profit for you."

Fletcher was arrested as part of a global operation to bring down iSpoof, surmounting to the U.K.'s biggest ever fraud sting. Judge Cahill praised the Metropolitan police for their investigation, which involved 700 days of work.

The Metropolitan police said iSpoof was created in December 2020 and had 59,000 users, with up to 20 people being scammed simultaneously. Users of the website paid hundreds or thousands of pounds a month for access to its software, which were marketed on a channel called "iSpoof Club" on the encrypted messaging app Telegram.

Kate Anderson, deputy chief crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said "Fraud is not a victimless crime and the cost to the many victims in this case has not just been financial, it has also had a huge emotional impact, causing extreme distress and devastation to those affected – many of whom had their life savings stolen from them."