Thousands defrauded in £48m web hoax |
An international spoofing website defrauded about 200,000 victims in the UK alone, the Metropolitan Police has said, after an anti-fraud operation brought the crime spree to an end. More than £48m was taken from victims as a result of the platform, the force said. The website allowed criminals to pose as high street banks including Barclays, Santander, HSBC, Lloyds, Halifax, First Direct, NatWest, Nationwide and TSB. At one stage, officers found that almost 20 people a minute were being contacted by scammers hiding behind false identities. The biggest loss to a single victim was more than £3m, while victims lost £10,000 on average. |
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