Five Londoners Charged Over Russian Coms, the Scam-Call Platform Behind 1.8 Million Fake Calls
The UK's National Crime Agency says the platform helped criminals impersonate banks and police, costing an estimated 170,000 victims tens of millions of pounds.
Key points
- The UK's National Crime Agency charged five people from London on 1 August 2024 over their alleged role in running Russian Coms, a phone-spoofing service.
- Russian Coms let criminals fake the number on a victim's caller ID, and was used to make more than 1.8 million scam calls.
- The platform was linked to about 170,000 victims worldwide, with average losses of over £9,400 per person.
- Six-month contracts sold for £1,200 to £1,400 in cryptocurrency, promoted on Telegram, Snapchat and Instagram.
- The five accused appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.
UK police have charged five people over Russian Coms, a service that let scammers make phone calls appear to come from banks or police.
The National Crime Agency (NCA), Britain's serious-crime police force, announced the charges on 1 August. It named Ayoub Sehailia, 28, Zakkaria Sehailia, 30, Usman Din, 30, Denis Ozmus, 29, and Fadila Salem, 53. All five live in London.
The charges include conspiracy to supply articles for use in fraud and converting criminal property. Zakkaria Sehailia faces an additional charge of refusing to hand over phone passcodes to investigators. The group is due at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.
What is Russian Coms and why did criminals pay for it?
Russian Coms was a caller ID spoofing service: software that changes the number a victim sees when their phone rings. If a scammer wants to look like they're calling from your bank's fraud line, this is the tool that made it possible.
It started life in 2020 as a physical handset, then moved to a web app. Customers paid £1,200 to £1,400 in cryptocurrency for a six-month contract, according to the NCA. For that price they got encrypted calls, voice-changing effects, no call logs, international dialling and round-the-clock support, plus a wipe-your-handset button.
The pitch was blunt: help criminals hide who they really are while ringing potential victims.
How the scam calls worked
When a mark's phone rang, the screen showed a real bank's number. The caller claimed the account had been used for fraud and that savings needed moving to a "safe" account. That account belonged to the criminals.
Because the number looked genuine, many people believed it. The NCA says the platform was used to make more than 1.3 million calls to 500,000 unique numbers across 107 countries, including the UK, the United States, New Zealand and France. A later count put total calls above 1.8 million. Average losses topped £9,400 per victim, and the total damage runs into tens of millions of pounds.
How was the platform found and shut down?
The NCA took Russian Coms offline in March 2024 after arresting three men in Newham, east London, two of whom were suspected of being the site's administrators and developers. We first reported on the platform and Operation Henhouse on 13 July 2026.
Operation Henhouse, a UK-wide fraud crackdown, led to 290 arrests across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Europol supported the work. Russian Coms' open marketing on Telegram, Snapchat and Instagram gave investigators a paper trail of adverts, handles and payment routes to follow.
Should you worry about spoofed calls?
Yes, and here's why the charge matters beyond this one case: it shows the infrastructure criminals rent is prosecutable, not just the individual callers. Assume the number on your screen can lie. Banks and police won't ring out of the blue and ask you to move money to keep it safe. If a call feels off, hang up, wait a few minutes, then ring the organisation back on a number from their official website or the back of your bank card.
If you think you've been targeted, contact your bank's fraud team immediately; they can freeze transfers if you're quick enough.
