A scammer swindled nearly £1 million from victims to buy a Porsche and live extravagantly
South Norwood: A 24-year-old guy named Adam Raja pulled off a pretty heartless scam, stealing almost £1 million from unsuspecting bank customers. He used the cash to buy a fancy Porsche and some bling.
Raja was quite the tech whiz, using over 100 mobile phones and SIM cards to reach out to his victims. He pretended to be a bank employee, claiming he was investigating fraud on their accounts.
In his bedroom, he set up a fake website and tricked people into giving him their banking details. This went on from August 2021 to March last year, and he really cleaned up.
Once he had the stolen money, he funneled it into a “mule” account and even converted some into cryptocurrency. Talk about a high-tech heist!
Police eventually caught up with him, raiding his home in South Norwood. They found 117 phones and SIM cards, all loaded with sensitive banking info and tips on how to scam people.
They also discovered around $62,000 in a crypto wallet and another £90,000 in his personal bank account. It was a real treasure trove of stolen cash.
Raja splurged some of his nearly £1 million haul on a Porsche Panamera, which set him back about £100,000. But his luck ran out when he was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud and possessing criminal property.
All of his victims got their money back, thankfully. Detective Constable Chris Collins said Raja was a real piece of work, gaining trust only to betray it.
He added that thanks to teamwork between banks and law enforcement, they were able to put a stop to Raja’s shady dealings. In the first half of last year alone, £32.3 million was lost to similar scams, showing just how serious this issue is.
