‘Bright’ phone fraudster led £100m scam

A £100 million scammer who was caught in Britain’s biggest anti-fraud operation spent his ill-gotten gains on a fleet of expensive cars, designer watches and jewellery, a court has heard.

Tejay Fletcher, 35, described as an “extremely bright young man”, developed a software tool called ispoof that enabled criminals to disguise phone numbers and trick people into thinking they were being called by their bank.

For a monthly subscription of £5,000, fraudsters had access to the technology allowing them to target millions of victims around the world.

More than 200,000 victims in the UK – many of them elderly – lost £43million, while losses globally topped £100 million.

The website, which had about 60,000 customers, earned more than £3.2million in Bitcoin in less than three years, with Fletcher raking in £2million.

Southwark Crown Court, in London, heard he had rented a Docklands apartment. He also owned a Lamborghini supercar worth almost £250,000 and spent £120,000 on matching Range

Rover SUVS for himself and his girl- friend. When police raided his flat last year, they found a money counter, jewellery and a Rolex watch worth £11,000.

Last month, Fletcher pleaded guilty to four charges, including making or supplying an article for use in fraud, and encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence.

Simon Baker KC, defending, said that Fletcher was an “extremely bright young man”, adding: “It is extremely unfortunate that intellect was not channelled into gainful activities.”

Fletcher will be sentenced today.