Men sentenced for using SIM farm to steal over £220,000 from banking customers

Three men from London have been sentenced at Inner London Crown Court to a combined six years and nine months for using a SIM farm to send out masses of fraudulent texts and calls, conning victims out of an overall sum of £223,183.53.

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

Emanuel Oxford-Faparusi, 23; Syrus Johnson-Faparusi, 25; and Uchechukwu Orjih, 21; worked together to send volumes of fraudulent texts and calls to victims, posing as legitimate organisations to manipulate banking customers into handing over money and banking details, with frauds being committed between August 2022 and March 2024.

Once the customers provided their card details through the channels, the fraudsters would use the details to make fraudulent online purchases, as well as sending money to mule accounts which they controlled, and withdrawing the funds from there.

The texts and calls would pose as being from a bank, deceiving customers into believing that their account was compromised and encouraging them to transfer money into a ‘safe account’ which was controlled by the fraudsters.

Through the police’s investigation, the DCPCU recovered two SIM farms from Oxford-Faparusi home. They also found multiple computers and phones which contained phishing website templates, smishing software, and around 160,000 sets of personal and financial data from victims.

Orjih was identified as being an accomplice through messages with Oxford-Faparusi. In addition, the police were able to recover stolen personal data and scripts used to commit fraud when contacting victims in Orjih’s possession.

Oxford-Faparusi received 42 months in prison, and Johnson-Faparusi received 18 months. Orjih received a 21-month sentence, suspended for two years. Criminal Behaviour Orders were imposed for all three for a period of five years.

Detective Constable David Hughes said:

“These fraudsters worked in unison to steal over £220,000 through huge volumes of fraudulent texts and calls to manipulate banking customers into handing over their money and banking details.

“These criminals are deceitful and will stop at nothing to steal from hard working people. We are thankful that through the collaborative efforts of the banking industry and police, we were able to prevent these criminals from causing further harm to society.”