A worldwide anti-fraud operation investigating 'spoof' phone calls has resulted in the arrests of six people in Ireland.
The arrests were made following searches in Dublin, Meath and Louth earlier this month, on November 8 and 9, and also saw 132 electronic devices seized along with 64 suspect bank accounts identified.
The sting operation was led by the London Metropolitan Police and saw Irish Gardai team up with police forces across the globe, as far as Australia, Canada and the United States.
The focus of the operation was to investigate a website, iSpoof.cc, that has since been taken down. It allowed users to make phone calls from ‘spoofed’ numbers that appear to be genuine.
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Fraudsters were using this website to call unsuspecting people across the world pretending to be calling from banks, official government departments and police to trick them into handing over their money.
Around 10 million fraudulent calls were made globally on iSpoof over the past year, including calls from residents in Ireland targeting Irish people. The scammers managed to get victims to hand over more than €115 million, though it is not known how much was lost to Irish victims.
A Garda spokesperson said: "An Garda Síochána has joined International Law Enforcement Authorities across Europe, Australia, the United States, Ukraine, and Canada in a global criminal investigation which has taken down a website, iSpoof.cc, that allowed fraudsters to impersonate trusted corporations or contacts to access sensitive information from victims, a type of cybercrime known as ‘spoofing’.
"This operation focused on the users of a website, iSpoof.cc, which is a website designed to allow persons to make telephone calls and/or send sms or text messages from ‘spoofed’ numbers that appear to be from genuine telephone numbers such as bank fraud lines, government departments, policing organisation, business organisations or delivery companies and more.
"It is believed that this server and website is used by persons to commit these type frauds around the world, including by residents in Ireland targeting Irish residents."
Speaking about An Garda Síochánas participation in this global law enforcement operation Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary, Organised and Serious Crime said: "Over recent months we are all aware of the proliferation of ‘spoof’ and scam phonecalls. An Garda Síochána, working with our International Law Enforcement partners, is playing our part in targeting and degrading the activities of Organised Crime Groups.
"The activities earlier this month is the start of a significant investigation being led by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau which will bring those involved in these criminal activities in this jurisdiction before the courts here in Ireland.”
A garda spokesperson said that this was an evidence-gathering phase of the operation in Ireland and investigations are still ongoing.
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