Published on: August 8, 2024
Russian Coms, a notorious phone spoofing service that services criminals, was recently taken down by authorities with the UK National Crime Agency (NCA). The organization began in 2021 and centered around helping other criminal groups spoof phones.
Phone spoofing is when criminals disguise their numbers while calling victims. This is typically done to trick the target into believing that the caller isn’t a scam by posing as legitimate companies, government organizations, or even family members. Once trust has been built, the scammers will seek ways to obtain your personal and financial information.
Hackers impersonated financial institutions to trick targets into giving up their debit and credit cards for a replacement card. The replacement never came, but hackers would get access to their banking information and payment methods.
Russian Coms enabled other hackers to steal more than £10 million from UK citizens.
“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,” the NCA said in a press release.
“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 website advertised their services for £350 per month, only purchasable through cryptocurrency. A six-month contract would cost between £1200-1400. While it claimed it would keep buyers anonymous, the NCA was able to find personal data on many people who purchased the tool.
“The NCA and our partners here in the UK and overseas are going after both the criminals and the technology they exploit,” the NCA said. “Users of Russian Coms, and all those tempted to try out similar services, should know that these services cannot be trusted.”
As of now, the online marketplace has been completely dismantled.