A man involved in a scheme targeting London Underground passengers through a text message scam laundered £600,000 through gift cards, a court has heard.
Four defendants were sentenced on Tuesday over the plot, which saw text messages sent out using homemade “SMS blasters” hidden inside suitcases wheeled around the Underground network.
Travellers walking past the devices received fake messages about a failed parcel delivery and a link inviting them to input their details to fix the problem, but the aim was to “plunder their bank accounts”, Inner London Crown Court was told.
The court heard although it was difficult to quantify how much money the fraudsters gained specifically from the texting scheme, “top boss” Zhijia Fan, 48, had personally benefitted by more than £100,000.
Prosecutor Alex Davidson said Fan’s co-defendants: Daoyan Shang, 20; Wan Hafiz, 41; and Gatis Lauks, 25, were thought to have received a lower amount, but Lauks laundered around £600,000 by purchasing gift cards using stolen bank details.
He was paid 5% commission for the gift cards he loaded and thought he made around £30,000 from the scheme, the hearing was told.
The court heard after giving a “no comment” interview to police in May 2025, Lauks returned and confessed his role in the fraud five days later.
The 25-year-old said he was recruited in June or July 2024 to purchase gift cards using stolen bank account details and Fan became “his handler”, Mr Davidson said.
Lauks said a “lady in China” provided him with “real-time technical support” and he would use an app on his phone loaded with stolen bank details to make in-store purchases, Mr Davidson said.
The defendant said he could purchase 100 gift cards a day and on one occasion bought £8,000 worth of gift cards from a UK store.
The group used the gift cards to purchase items such as clothing, Pokemon cards, Louis Vuitton goods and video games, Mr Davidson said.
Officers launched an investigation on 11 March 2025 when an off-duty British Transport Police (BTP) detective saw a man with a suitcase containing holes and emitting a green flash sitting at a platform at King’s Cross Underground station.
Officers searching Fan, Shang and Hafiz’s addresses in London seized 10,832 gift cards loaded with more than £80,000 in profits generated from fraud, the BTP said.
Read more from Sky News:
Sky correspondent’s car hit by ‘sleeper’ drone in Russia
Family of Nancy Guthrie offer $1m reward for her recovery
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
Shang and Fan had previously been on trial at Inner London Crown Court and both changed their pleas to guilty on a charge of conspiracy to defraud between January and March 2025.
Both defendants were jailed on Tuesday, with Fan sentenced to four years and eight months and Shang to two years and 10 months.
Follow our channel and never miss an update
At the same hearing, Hafiz was jailed for 14 months for conspiracy to defraud and 10 weeks for possession of articles for use in fraud, with both sentences to run concurrently. He will also be subject to deportation proceedings as he is not a British national.
Lauks previously pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud by false representation and was sentenced to two years, suspended for two years.
