Trio behind bank fraud subscription service guilty

A group who ran a subscription service that enabled criminals to bypass online security have been found guilty of fraud.

Vijayasidhurshan Vijayanathan, 21, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Callum Picari, 22, from Hornchurch, East London - and 19-year-old Aza Siddeeque from Milton Keynes, promised customers would be rich "within minutes".

Criminals paid the trio a weekly fee of at least £30 to use technology that would assist them in bypassing security and accessing bank accounts, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

The men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make or supply articles for use in fraud, and Picari also admitted concealing or removing criminal property.

They will be sentenced at Snarebrook Crown Court in November.

NCA cyber investigators said that more than 12,500 people were targeted by criminals using the website OTP.Agency, between September 2019 and when it was shut down in March 2021.

Users could pay for access to technology that would help them bypass multi-factor authentication on platforms such as HSBC, Monzo, and Lloyds.

Access to Visa and Mastercard verification sites could be accessed to by those who paid an elite plan, costing £380, the NCA found.

Investigators said they did not know exactly how much money the men made but estimated - depending on the plans purchased - the figure was between £30,000 and £7.9m.

All three men were arrested in March 2021 and afterwards the website was shut down.

The NCA said Picari was the site's owner, developer and main beneficiary.

In a message he posted to a Telegram group with more than 2,200 members, he said: "We promise you will be making profit within minutes of purchasing our service."

The trio initially attempted to deny knowingly being involved in criminality, but eventually admitted the charges, with Siddeeque the last to plead guilty.

Investigators also saw a message exchange between Picari and Vijayanathan where they discussed deleting messages in a Telegram group, which Picari had described as "incriminating".

Anna Smith, operations manager from the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit, said the three men "opened the door for fraudsters to access bank accounts and steal money from unsuspecting members of the public".

"The trio profited from these serious crimes by running www.OTP.Agency and their convictions are a warning to anyone else offering similar services; the NCA has the ability to disrupt and dismantle websites which pose a threat to people’s livelihoods," she said.

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