Ilford Recorder > News > Crime
Raid in Goodmayes helps police arrest nine in £60million fraud case
Ralph Blackburn
Published: 12:47 PM October 22, 2015 Updated: 8:49 AM October 13, 2020
Cash recovered after police raids arrested fraudsters who had conned banking customers out of £60million. Picture: Met Police - Credit: Met Police
Detectives investigating a criminal network responsible for defrauding bank customers out of around £60million arrested nine people yesterday.
Officers searched 14 addresses across the country, including one in Wellwood Road, Goodmayes, at 6.30am, following a series of co-ordinated raids by the Metropolitan Police's Cyber Crime and Fraud Team (FALCON).
This is the largest ever covert operation against cyber-enabled crime in the country.
The arrests follow an investigation into fraudsters who have been ringing business banking customers pretending to be from their banks.
They used technology to disguise their phone numbers and dupe victims into revealing their personal banking information.
The suspects transferred the money into "mule accounts" under their control and withdrew it from ATMs and bank branches.
Detectives arrested the seven men and two women on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering. All are currently in police custody.
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Det Ch Insp Andy Gould, head of FALCON's Taskforce, said: "These fraudsters gain the trust of their victims by appearing to call from an official bank phone line.
"They sound professional and ask some subtle questions in order to gain the information they need to access the customer's bank account online.
"This is the largest covert proactive operation we have ever undertaken against cyber-enabled crime."
Ten people have already been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering offences in connection with the investigation.
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