Fraudster who stole hundreds of thousands pounds busted through Deliveroo address

An online fraudster who conned hundreds of thousands of pounds out of banking customers has been jailed for more than three years after he was caught through an address used for Deliveroo.

Belarusian national Denis Kupcevich, 43, was using stolen identities to commit fraud and open bank accounts through which he would launder the illicit earnings.

Kupcevich was tracked down after National Crime Agency (NCA) officers linked banking details in the name of one of his aliases with Deliveroo food deliveries to a flat in Baines Close, South Croydon.

He was placed under surveillance and officers watched as he moved between various high-end hotels and residential properties in London and Poole over a six month period.

Kupcevich and his criminal associates used the hotels and short term lets as bases for their criminal enterprise. From here, they would contact victims by phone and use social engineering tactics to manipulate them into handing over money.

One victim described how she and her husband were defrauded out of almost £160,000 after an operator purporting to be from the bank called her to say that money needed to be transferred due to a security risk.

Another victim was conned into paying £12,400 for a second hand BMW which never materialised.

Kupcevich also created a real estate agency called “Look4 Home” in February 2020, listing one of the stolen names as a director before it was dissolved in August 2021. More than £55,000 is believed to have been laundered through its bank account, despite the fact that no legitimate earnings were ever recorded for the company.

NCA officers arrested Kupcevich at the flat in Croydon in May last year, and seized 10 mobile phones, four laptops and two bank cards in a different name. Some of the phones had screenshots of multiple illegal banking transactions.

The NCA were able to share details with the relevant banks before the frauds could take place and as a result, more than £2million pounds was prevented from leaving the accounts.

Kupcevich, who first entered the UK illegally by using a false identity in 2004, was charged with one count of money laundering, two counts of possession of identity documents with improper intention and one count of articles for use in fraud.

He pleaded guilty to all the charges at Southwark Crown Court on September 22 and was jailed for three years and four months at the same court on Tuesday. He will be deported after serving his sentence.

Timothy Court, of the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit, said: “Kupcevich played a vital role in the criminal ecosystem by enabling fraudsters to conceal their activity and access their illicit earnings.

“By arresting Kupcevich, the NCA has starved criminals of this service and protected the public from those seeking to cruelly steal money from unsuspecting victims.”

Pictured top: Denis Kupcevich, 43, being arrested in Croydon (Picture: NCA)