A Bulgarian-based fraudster has been sentenced to nine years in jail after being found guilty of defrauding victims out of an estimated £41.6 million.
Svetoslav Donchev, 37, pleaded guilty to five charges of online scamming fraud having been extradited to the UK for the case.
Donchev created website scripts designed to imitate genuine websites of companies to help criminals defraud victims.
These websites would be hosted on another server in the control of a cybercriminal who would then trap victims by sending ‘phishing’ emails suggesting accounts needed to be verified or that victims were due a refund.
Sarah Jennings, CPS prosecutor, said: “Donchev’s criminal activity facilitated the compromise of hundreds of thousands of victims’ personal details and banking credentials by the theft of their personal banking details.
“Phishing scams cause enormous stress, upset, inconvenience and loss to users and customers of websites. They also result in huge losses to the organisations and companies affected.”
Once the victim completed the forms, which included personal financial information, the details were either logged or sent by email to the cybercriminal who would then use these for fraud or to sell them on the dark web
Furthermore, Donchev forced software on to their browser that disguised their phishing sites from being identified as ‘risky’.
Following the arrest of a different cyber hacker, police discovered an email address in the hackers computer files which led them to uncovering Donchev’s operations.
He was arrested in his home in Pleven, Bulgaria and it was established that Donchev had created website scripts for up to 53 UK based companies, or companies with a UK footprint, with a potential half a million victims as a result of his criminal activity.
“Donchev would not steal the bank details himself. He would supply the tools for others to do so,” continued Jennings.
“He may have felt removed from the scams themselves, but the thorough police investigation and this successful prosecution shows that we will track down all those involved in online scams, extradite them if they are abroad, and put them before the UK courts.”
