Confidential Access's 'platinum' products cost £5,500 and came complete with instructions on how to defraud companies

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

Members of a gang who provided fake identities and documents to thousands of customers have been jailed following a two-and-a-half-year investigation into their multimillion-pound operation.

The criminal enterprise, known as Confidential Access (CA), operated from Alicante, Spain. It provided bogus documents and coaching on how to commit fraud.

A production line generated authentic-looking documents for committing fraud, many of which were bundled together and sold as full credit profiles. They included wage slips, credit histories and proof of postal address, making it possible for customers to defraud companies of thousands of pounds.

One of CA's top-end products, the so-called platinum profile, cost £5,500 and came complete with instructions on how to commit identity fraud. For £2,000, CA sold the "100% Creditmaster" profile.

Nautical terms were used to distinguish the levels of trust within the forums. New members began as "deckhands" and would climb the ladder up to "ship's surgeon". Customers who succeeded in committing fraud were asked by CA for 50% of the proceeds of their first scam.

Web forums were said to have played a key part, providing clients with information, advice and coaching on how to use the profiles and commit fraud.

Some of the forums were free but others came at a cost. A monthly subscription bought access to forums where members could discuss how to use the identity documents to break the law, and seek other tips and advice.

Of the 11,000 clients who used CA's services, some spent more than £20,000 on false documentation and many went on to commit fraud which in some cases totalled more than £1m.

Analysis of servers seized in Hong Kong led to a breakthrough by officers when they cracked the sophisticated encryption codes used by the gang.

Detective Inspector Tim Dowdeswell said: "This was a sophisticated operation which has netted millions of pounds over the years. These cyber criminals not only provided the tools to commit fraud, they instructed their clients in how to use them to make the maximum amount of money, whilst ruining real people's credit histories into the bargain.

"We have already brought many of their students in crime to court and will continue to work with other police forces and partners to bring those people who bought and used these identities in their own frauds to justice."

The operation was run by Jason Place and Barry Sales in Alicante while employees based around the UK would monitor the CA website and work on producing various documents, including false bank statements, wage slips, driving licences and utility bills.

Place, 42, from Gravesend, Kent, was jailed for six years and nine months for conspiracy to defraud. Sales was not prosecuted because he is terminally ill.

Mark Powell-Richards, 59, a credit broker and antiques dealer from Bickley in Kent, was sentenced to 225 months for conspiracy to defraud. Allen Stringer, 57, of Crossgates, Leeds, was jailed for the same term and on an identical charge.

Michael Daly, 68, a former chauffeur of Erith, Kent, was sentenced to 12 months suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid community service for conspiracy to defraud.

Jaipal Singh, 31, a telecoms company director, of Franchise Street, Wednesbury, West Midlands, was sentenced to 18 months for conspiracy to defraud.

Arun Thear, 22, of West Bromwich, was sentenced to six months suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 150 hours' unpaid community service for forgery.

All six had pleaded guilty at earlier hearings.