Russian Coms was set up in 2021 for the sole purpose of scamming innocent people around the world out of money by imitating mobile phone and telecoms companies, law enforcement agencies and financial institutions.

Adrian Searle, director of the National Economic Crime Centre at NCA, said: ‘Criminals are increasingly using technology to carry out fraud and other crimes on an industrial scale, causing very real harm to victims in the UK and across the world.

‘The NCA and our partners here in the UK and overseas are going after both the criminals and the technology they exploit.

‘Whilst this use of technology, which can be called “crime as a service”, promises anonymity, unbeknown to the criminal users, the services also store the users’ data, so we can identify who they are and how they operate.

‘Users of Russian Coms, and all those tempted to try out similar services, should know that these services cannot be trusted.’

The platform enabled paid subscribers to use numbers which victims would assume were from a trusted organisation, convincing victims to share personal information.

Over 1.3m calls were made between 2021 and 2024 to 500,000 phone numbers in the UK, the average loss per person who fell victim to this crime was £9,400, although the service was used to make calls to 107 countries in total, including the US, New Zealand and France.

The NCA arrested three individuals on the scene, two of which it suspects have been involved since the start. They have now been released on bail.

Subscribers to the service would pay between £350 to £1,400, which included a handset fitted with false apps to make it look like a legitimate phone if seized by the police. There was also a web app available for use.

Each subscription differed based on the number of minutes it came with, but all had the ability to encrypt phone calls and wipe the handset instantly.

Subscriptions would also be paid for with cryptocurrency which is harder to trace.

The NCA is working with Interpol to track down the subscribers to the service.