操る behind call centre in Pakistan blitzing British homes with a fiendish phone scam
Ahmad’s computer mouse races across the 審査する, speedily 開始 browser tabs, 挿入するing phone numbers, changing passwords and checking instant messages.
The call-centre boss, based in Lahore, Pakistan, moves so quickly it’s hard to follow what he’s doing.
What he doesn’t know is that an 倫理的な hacker for the BBC’s 詐欺-破産した／（警察が）手入れするing show Scam 迎撃戦闘機s has 伸び（る）d remote 接近 to his 審査する and can see every movement he makes on his computer.
But with every click of Ahmad’s mouse, another person in the UK is at 危険 of losing their hard-earned money.
Ahmad Sarfraz is the 操る behind one of Pakistan’s most prolific 詐欺 factories 的ing British 世帯s.
Ahmad Sarf raz (pictured) is the 操る behind one of Pakistan’s most prolific 詐欺 factories 的ing British 世帯s
労働者s in his scam call centre are peddling an (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する 策略, where they make calls to UK phone numbers and 提起する／ポーズをとる as 顧客 service staff from 動きやすい phone provider O2. The scammers do this to 伸び（る） 接近 to 顧客s’ accounts so they can order 動きやすい phones 価値（がある） thousan ds of 続けざまに猛撃するs which they sell on.
Money Mail raised the alarm over the scam in April, but a new 調査 run by Scam 迎撃戦闘機s has 解除するd the lid on the unscrupulous people behind the 反対／詐欺.
With the help of hacker Jim Browning, who 作品 undercover to use his 科学（工学）技術 技術s, Scam 迎撃戦闘機s was able to break into Ahmad’s 操作／手術s and listen to the centre’s phone calls, に引き続いて their movements for nine weeks.
Its findings 供給する an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の insight into just how these 犯罪のs operate.
公式の／役人 詐欺 data, sent to the 政府 today by 産業 団体／死体 UK 財政／金融, 明らかにする／漏らすs that 17 pc of all scams begin with a phone call or text ― and the losses are enormous.
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How scammers find you
Ahmad’s 犯罪の ギャング（団）, it appears, has 購入（する）d a 攻撃する，衝突する-名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） from the 黒人／ボイコット market 含む／封じ込めるing hundreds of UK 動きやすい phone numbers.
However, they don’t know which belong to O2 顧客s.
Ahmad begins by methodically entering the phone numbers into O2’s website, which then 即時に 確認するs whether the number is linked to an O2 account.
Those that do belong to an O2 account 支えるもの／所有者 are passed on to a call handler, who すぐに dials the number. The call handler then 提起する／ポーズをとるs as O2 staff, calling to 申し込む／申し出 a 偽の one-off 宣伝の 取引，協定.
When the 顧客 answers, a friendly man’s 発言する／表明する says: ‘Hi, good morning, this is Ali here, calling you from O2. First of all, how are you?
‘The 推論する／理由 for my call is that O2 are running a 昇進／宣伝 and we are going to 減ずる your 月毎の 法案s. For six months, you’ll 支払う／賃金 just £7 without any change, all 権利?’
It sounds like a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定, but there’s a catch ― ーするために 打ち明ける the 申し込む／申し出, you have to 立証する your account. Ali asks for the email 演説（する）／住所 linked to the account.
He then says he will 生成する a one-time passcode that will be sent to the 犠牲者’s phone, which they must read out to 確認する their 身元.
But this code isn’t linked to any 取引，協定. Instead, it’s the 重要な that will give scammers 接近 to their 的’s account.
While the scammer is on the phone, Ahmad is busy on his computer. He enters the targ et’s email 演説（する）／住所 into the スピードを出す／記録につける-in on O2’s website and clicks ‘Forgotten your 調印する-in 詳細（に述べる）s’.
This automatically sends a six-digit passcode to the account 支えるもの／所有者’s 動きやすい phone. Once they’ve 手渡すd over this code, Ahmad and his team can スピードを出す／記録につける into their account and are a step closer to taking 十分な 支配（する）／統制する.
Within seconds, Ahmad has changed the password and email 演説（する）／住所 linked to the account. He then orders several expensive 動きやすい phones, tablets and smart watches to arrive at the 犠牲者’s home, all of which they will be 法案d for.
The Lahore-based scam factory relies on the good-natured honesty of their 犠牲者s. Most are quick to 報告（する）／憶測 the incorrect 小包s to the number left by the scammers
犯罪のs 偉業／利用する honesty
As part of the 宣伝の 取引，協定 申し込む／申し出d by Ahmad’s team, 犠牲者s are often told they will receive a phone 昇格. However, a few days after the phone call, they receive several electronic 装置s ― 非，不，無 of which matches the one they were 約束d over the phone.
The Lahore-based scam factory relies on the good-natured honesty of their 犠牲者s. Most are quick to 報告（する）／憶測 the incorrect 小包s to the number left by the scammers.
In the programme, O2 顧客 Tracey Underwood explains how the 残り／休憩（する） of the scam 作品.
Tracey, 51, says she was delighted when she received a phone call out of the blue telling her she qualified for a 昇進／宣伝 to 減ずる her 月毎の 法案s and 取って代わる her phone.
Since she had worked for a 動きやすい phone company 以前, the fitness 指導者 from Cornwall knew the 条件 that were used in relation to phone 契約s and the call handler appeared to be 本物の, she says.
‘I felt 確信して ― their language was so 納得させるing,’ she says.
‘A code （機の）カム through and a message on it said it was not to be given to anyone. I questioned them on this but they said: “We’ve just sent it to you and if you don’t give the code, you will have two 動きやすい phone accounts 始める，決める up in your 指名する and you are going to be 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d twice.” ’
安心させるd, Tracey read out the code. . . and in doing so, she had unwittingly given the scammers the code that would start the 過程 of changing her password.
She was then tricked into giving the answer to her 安全 question.
Now the scam mers had 十分な 接近 to her O2 account.
A few days later, an iPhone 13 and an iPad arrived in the 地位，任命する at her home ― she had not been 推定する／予想するing either of these 装置s.
‘The phone that arrived wasn’t the 権利 one and I knew it was much more expensive, so I messaged them on the number they had 供給するd during the call. They said they had an angry 顧客 who had received my phone and I had his order.
O2 顧客 Tracey Underwood tells how she was scammed
‘They told me it was no way my fault and said that if I could 一括 them both up and send them to the 配当 倉庫／問屋, they would 問題／発行する my new phone as soon as they’d received it.’
Tracey was given a PO box number in Nottinghamshire to which she was asked to 地位，任命する the 装置s.
She sent the phone and tablet in the 地位，任命する and waited for her 小包 to arrive ― but it never （機の）カム. And any calls she made to the 偽の O2 centre went unanswered.
She says: ‘The moment it 夜明けd on me I had been scammed is when I messaged them ― on the number they gave me during the call ― on the final day my new phone was meant to turn up.
‘I felt 怒り／怒る and 当惑 that I’d been conned. And stupid that I’d let them 納得させる me.’
In reality, the PO box belonged to a person 事実上の／代理 on に代わって of Ahmad’s 犯罪の （犯罪の）一味, によれば Scam 迎撃戦闘機s. Once they received the 一括, they sent it on to Lahore in Pakistan, where the phones were unboxed by Ahmad himself, as shown on the BBC show, and sold at market.
操る’s 高級な life
On social マスコミ, Ahmad, the unscrupulous young 犯罪の, 株d pictures of his lavish lifestyle, 基金d with the money stolen from Britons 経由で the O2 scam.
On Instagram, he can be seen in expensive 4x4s and what appear to be designer 着せる／賦与するs, 含むing Louis Vuitton logo belts and はっきりと tailored 控訴s.
He 地位，任命するs photos of himself unboxing expensive phones, smirking at the camera while 持つ／拘留するing up what appear to be the proceeds of his 罪，犯罪s. However, Ahmad’s bragging （機の）カム to a sudden 停止（させる） after he was 直面するd by the Scam 迎撃戦闘機s team, who managed to pin 負かす／撃墜する a 場所 for the 詐欺 factory after a member of his staff placed a food order online to be 配達するd to the call centre office in Lahore.
After the show 空気／公表するd on Monday, presenter Nick Stapleton told Money Mail he believes the ギャング（団） is likely to change 場所 and phone numbers and start up again.
‘We 知らせるd the police and know they stopped operating at that 演説（する）／住所, but it is like whack-a-mole ― they are usually やめる quick to 始める，決める up 操作／手術s again どこかよそで,’ he says.
‘It’s a fiendishly clever scam,’ 追加するs his co-presenter, Rav Wilding. Wilding and Stapleton question how these ギャング（団）s can be 許すd to input hundreds of phone numbers and 生成する password reset codes from one inte rnet 演説（する）／住所 in Pakistan without raising any 疑惑 from phone 網状組織 provider O2.
When asked why there is no 警報 system in place, a 広報担当者 at O2 explains that the company has ‘different 監視するing 能力s in place to （悪事，秘密などを）発見する unusual activity and 封鎖する 怪しげな IP [Internet 議定書] 演説（する）／住所s’.
He said that its 焦点（を合わせる） is ‘very much on 顧客 認識／意識性 and education’.
In April, 産業 insiders told Money Mail that O2 was lagging shamefully behind its peers in the fight against fraudsters. The UK’s largest 動きやすい ne work has been leaving millions of 顧客s exposed to scam text messages and calls, 専門家s 明らかにする／漏らすd, because it has taken years longer than its 競争相手s to 器具／実施する anti-spam 保護物，者s that stop scam messages reaching 動きやすい phone 使用者s.
O2 供給するs 34.1 million 動きやすい phone 関係s ― and, 同様に as its 正規の／正選手 顧客s, many 決定的な services rely on its 網状組織, 含むing more than half of the UK’s police 軍隊s, many 救急車 and 解雇する／砲火／射撃 services, 地元の 会議s and 網状組織 Rail.
A 広報担当者 for the company says: ‘We’re 感謝する to BBC Scam 迎撃戦闘機s for helping to raise 認識／意識性 of this 高度に sophisticated, organised, and international 罪，犯罪, which is using professional scam call centres to 的 innocent 消費者s in the UK. 顧客s should never 株 a one-time code with anyone who has called them 突然に. We’re doing all we can to keep people 安全な.’
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