Blog Crime Reports

An online fraudster who conned hundreds of thousands of pounds out of banking customers has been jailed for more than three years following a NCA investigation.

NCA cyber crime investigators identified that Belarusian national Denis Kupcevich, 43, was using stolen identities to commit fraud and open bank accounts through which he would launder the illicit earnings.

Kupcevich was tracked down after NCA officers linked banking details in the name of one of his aliases with Deliveroo deliveries to a flat in Baines Close, South Croydon.

He was placed under surveillance and officers watched as he moved between various high-end hotels and residential properties in London and Poole over a six month period.

Investigators ultimately uncovered that Kupcevich and his criminal associates used the hotels and short term lets as bases for their criminal enterprise. From here, they would contact victims by phone and use social engineering tactics to manipulate them into handing over money.

One victim described how she and her husband were defrauded out of almost £160,000 after an operator purporting to be from the bank called her to say that money needed to be transferred due to a security risk.

Another victim was conned into paying £12,400 for a second hand BMW which never materialised.

Kupcevich went under several aliases, the majority of the time assuming the identity of two men, one a Moldovan national and the other was from Bulgaria. Neither men were aware that their identities had been stolen and Kupcevich used these names to obtain a fake Bulgarian passport and identity card.

These stolen identities were used to create false documents to open numerous bank accounts, through which the stolen money could be laundered

Denis Kupcevich pleaded guilty to all the charges at Southwark Crown Court on 22 September and was jailed for three years and four months at the same court on Tuesday (11 April). He will be deported after serving his sentence.