The sentencing follows investigation and arrest by specialist banking industry sponsored police unit, the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU).

Between June 2020 and November 2022, Jawad Khan, 26, and Kazi Hossain, 44, provided a smishing service, where they would issue mass fraudulent text messages on behalf of other criminals

These messages would often impersonate genuine organisations, such as banks and government departments, and aimed to trick the receiver into clicking on a link and inputting personal details. These included names, birthdays, bank details and further security details.

Khan advertised the sending of these SMS messages online, charging between £250 to £400 for quantities ranging between 5,000 to 10,000 messages. He amassed a regular network of customers who provided suggestions themselves for how to design the fake messages.

Hossain sold the SIM cards to Khan for these fraudulent messages to be sent via SMS. It is estimated that Khan sent more than 540,000 smishing messages during this time.

Through the police’s investigation, they were able to obtain evidence of large scale spamming from details found on Khan’s phone, as well as Hossain’s involvement in the crime.

Police also found a crypto wallet used to take the payments from the fraudsters, which received over $340,000 during the period that fraudulent sales took place.

Detective Constable Ben O’Shea, said:

Khan and Hossain sold fraudulent services to criminals with complete disregard for how this would affect victims across the country. 

“This was a highly technical and organised operation and showcases the sophistication of fraudsters in the UK today. This case also shows why people should be wary when they receive unsolicited texts from numbers they do not recognise.

“Thankfully we were able to work with the banking and finance industry to bring these criminals to justice. We will continue working tirelessly to stop this type of criminality.