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A major text message scam targeting Tube passengers has been exposed.
Commuters passing through stations on the London Underground were sent fake SMS messages about missed parcel deliveries, leading them to click links and enter personal details.
However, the messages were part of an elaborate fraud intended to steal victims’ bank information and drain their accounts, Inner London Crown Court heard.
Text messages were broadcast using homemade "SMS blasters" hidden inside suitcases and wheeled through stations to target high volumes of commuters.
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Zhijia Fan, 48, described as the "top boss" of the group, was said to have personally benefited by more than £100,000.
His co-defendants Daoyan Shang, 20, Wan Hafiz, 41 and Gatis Lauks, 25, were believed to have received smaller sums.
Lauks was found to have laundered around £600,000 by purchasing gift cards with stolen bank details.
He was paid a five per cent commission and estimated he made around £30,000 from the scheme.
The court heard that Lauks, recruited in June or July 2024, confessed to his role five days after initially giving police a "no comment" interview in May 2025.
Detective inspector Tim Weekes of British Transport Police said: "These organised scammers concealed SMS blasters in suitcases in a bid to plunder the bank accounts of unsuspecting commuters.
"Their plot to defraud passengers was foiled by one of our vigilant detectives, who was off duty when he spotted the device at a London Tube station.
"An extensive investigation followed, drawing on specialists from across BTP and we built a case so robust the gang had no choice but to plead guilty."
Fan, of Winchester Street in Acton, was jailed for four years and eight months.
Shang, of Caxton Road in Shepherd’s Bush, received two years and 10 months.
Hafiz, of Queensway in Paddington, was sentenced to 14 months for conspiracy to defraud and a further 10 weeks for possession of articles for use in fraud, to run concurrently.
He now faces deportation proceedings.
Lauks, from Ealing, previously pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud by false representation and was sentenced to two years, suspended for two years.
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