Sally Cahill

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By Sean Dilley & Charley AdamsBBC News

A multi-million pound fraudster who conned people out of More Than £100m has been sentenced to 13 years in jail.

Tejay Fletcher, 35 was The Founder and leading administrator of a sophisticated banking scam called iSpoof, which was brought down Last Year in the UK's biggest fraud sting.

With the £2m he made, Fletcher bought a Lamborghini and two Range Rovers.

Fletcher pleaded guilty to four charges last month, including making or supplying an article to use in fraud.

The mastermind behind the iSpoof website also admitted encouraging or assisting The Commission of an offence, possession of criminal property, and transferring criminal property, between 30 November 2020 and 8 November 2022.

Judge Sally Cahill KC said it was a " harrowing experience" for all of The Victims .

People suffered damage to businesses, sleeplessness, depression, emotional stress, personal financial problems and fall-outs with Family Members , She Said .

The Judge told Fletcher he did not care about The Victims , adding: " The late expression of remorse is regret for being caught rather than empathy for your victims. "

Fraudsters were offered tools that enabled them to disguise phone calls so they appeared to be from a trusted organisation, such as a bank, meaning they could empty their targets' accounts.

They would pose as employees of banks including Barclays, Santander, HSBC, Lloyds, Halifax, First Direct , NatWest, Nationwide and TSB.

The Judge said that £100m of global losses were a conservative estimate and there could have been more.

In the UK alone, £43m was lost And One victim lost £3m.

Some 4,785 people who reported being targeted to Action Fraud lost an average of £10,000, according to police.

Fletcher made about £2m from the iSpoof website and bought a £230,000 Lamborghini, two Range Rovers worth £110,000 and an £11,000 Rolex.

The website made about £3. 2m in cryptocurrency Bitcoin, with the " lions share" Ending Up with Fletcher, prosecutor John Ojakovoh said.

What makes this case unusual is that the thousands who lost money through sophisticated scams were not direct victims of Fletcher and his junior Partners - But they were all victims of fraud directly facilitated by the iSpoof website.

The Prosecution described a business Set Up so that elements of detailed research and development on The One hand, and marketing on The Other , encouraged criminals to cash in.

Fletcher, who has 18 previous convictions, has been sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison.

The Judge praised the Metropolitan Police for its investigation, which involved 700 days of work, and three detectives for the larger scale of investigation conducted by The Force .

The Met said, at its peak, iSpoof had 59,000 users, with up to 20 people per minute targeted at one point by callers using technology bought from The Site .

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: " Closing down iSpoof has been the UK's biggest ever fraud operation and was a collective effort. "

He Said The Force was proud to have Taken Down " criminals at The Top of this fraudulent network" describing them as " heartless people".

iSpoof was created in December 2020 and users paid hundreds or thousands of pounds a month for its features.

Simon Baker KC, defending, said Fletcher was an " extremely bright young man" who has a young son, adding: " It is extremely unfortunate that intellect was not channelled into gainful activities.

" His guilty plea reflects his genuine regret and remorse for his actions and his sincere wish to apologise to those who have suffered as a result of the frauds perpetrated against them, as a result of the ispoof website. "

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Source of news: bbc.com