Major Phone Spoofing Service ’Russian Coms’ Taken Down by UK Authorities

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has closed Russian Coms, a platform used to defraud people by allowing criminals to spoof official phone numbers.

If you've ever received a phone call from what looks like an official institution, only to discover that it's a scam, the criminals likely used this service or something similar. Spoofing a phone number is a common tactic that lends credence to the scam caller, and not many people know it's even possible.

Russian Coms has been around since 2021, and authorities say that they've enabled fraudsters to scam people out of tens of millions of pounds.

"The platform allowed criminals to hide their identity by appearing to call from pre-selected numbers, most commonly of financial institutions, telecommunications companies and law enforcement agencies. This enabled them to gain the trust of victims before stealing their money and personal details," explained the NCA in a press release.

"Between 2021 and 2024, over 1.3 million calls were made by Russian Coms users to 500,000 unique UK phone numbers. Of those who reported to Action Fraud, the average loss is over £9,400."

Three people allegedly involved in creating and administering the platforms have been arrested and released on conditional bail. In conjunction with Europol and other partners worldwide, the authorities will go after the platform users in the coming months.

Some of the features advertised by Russian Coms included unlimited minutes, hold music, encrypted phone calls, instant handset wipe, international calls, voice changing services, and 24/7 support.

"An example of a typical scam involved offenders spoofing the number of a bank to gain the trust of a victim, before convincing them that their account had been subject to fraudulent activity. They would then be persuaded to transfer their money to another account in order to safeguard their savings," the NCA explained.