Swansea call centre sent millions of scam messages to harvest credit card details

21/10/2023

A Swansea call centre set up to con people out of money on the back of the PPI scandal was responsible for an astonishing 53 million scam phone messages, a court has heard. The fraudsters promised big pay outs in connection with mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance policies but in reality their aim was simply to get victims’ credit card details and steal money from them. Hundreds of people paid up to GBP550 each after being tricked by the call centre staff into believing they were due substantial PPI refunds, with many of the victims of the scam being elderly and vulnerable.

Sentencing 16 people involved in the fraud – from directors of the firm to those working the phones – a judge at Swansea Crown Court [1] described the aim of the business as “deliberate, planned fraud”. The details of how the call centre staff set about tricking people into trusting them and into handing over private information provides a glimpse into how fraudster go about their business and the techniques they employ to con and pressurise victims. Lee Reynolds, prosecuting, said the company at the centre of the fraud went by various names including HES Synergy Limited and HES Savings Audit Ltd, and was set up with the aim of taking unlawful advantage of the financial scandal around mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance or PPI.

He said the fraud was “specifically and carefully planned” to give victims the false impression that they were entitled to a significant PPI refunds and to get them to pay a fee to process their claims.

The court heard the victims of the scam were led to believe the business had specific knowledge regarding their individual finances and had access to information about their payment of PPI as well as knowledge of how much they were entitled to by way of a refund – in reality those behind the fraud had no such information or knowledge. The prosecutor said the scam began with the firm sending out millions of deliberately misleading recorded messages – known as “voice broadcasts” – designed to “hook” potential victims.

The message said: “Our records indicate that you haven’t yet claimed back your PPI on certain loans and credit cards. You are owed thousands. To claim this back press 5 to speak to an advisor and 9 to opt out”.

Over a three month period the message was broadcast an astonishing 53,191,988 times. The court heard that though the message was a short one, it contained three important false statements and was nothing more than a “fishing” exercise. In reality the business did not have “records” about each consumer; it had no way of knowing whether the consumer had ever taken out PPI; and the positive statement that the victim was “owed thousands” was false.

The prosecutor said if a consumer responded to the initial voice broadcast message by pressing option “5” the call would be answered by a “lead generator” in the Swansea [4] call centre who would usually answer the phone by saying “You’re through to the refund department”. Mr Reynolds said from this point “call centre staff would act together and fraudulently to facilitate the taking of financial information from customers with the aim being to convince the victim to part with the upfront fee.” The court heard that, following scripts of what to say, the lead generators would harvest basic information from the callers such as name, address, date of birth, email, general information on past financial agreements, the name of the bank they used, and details of active credit cards.

Misleading phrases such out “our solicitors” and “you’re on the database” would often be used to build confidence, and specific amounts of refunds the callers were supposedly entitled to were mentioned. The lead generators would then pass the victims’ details to a “closer” who would call them back and introduce themselves variously as a “senior advisor”, or someone “from the legal team”, or “from the verification team”. The closer would tell the victims that they were going to run a financial report to verify the PPI agreements and to look for any agreements they might have forgotten about before a decision was made as to whether there was a valid claim.

The court heard call centre staff would then create secret email accounts for their victims and, using the information gleaned from earlier calls, access people’s private credit reports from companies such as Noddle, Clearscore and Experian. Any additional information needed by the fraudsters to access the credit reports would be requested from the victims under the guise of data protection requirements or security checks. The court heard that the information in the credit reports told call centre staff nothing about any PPI payments or potential refunds but it could be used to further hoodwink consumers into thinking the company was genuine and had access to some kind of PPI database.

Once the credit report had been secretly obtained the next step for the scammers was for a closer to ring the victim back again, provide them with details of the agreements on the credit report, and tell them there was a “green light” from the “legal team” and they had a strong claim. Again, all this was a lie. The prosecutor said it was at this stage that the call centre staff introduced the concept of an “upfront fee” – this was normally GBP550 – which was presented to the victim as a “holding deposit” to be put on their credit card while the claim was being processed and was often referred to as being refundable.

The closer then pressed the consumer to access their email account whilst on the phone so that documents with the terms and conditions could be sent to them to sign immediately. Some consumers who didn’t have internet access or were unfamiliar with the online “e-sign” process were often asked if they could go to the local library to access their emails or get their son or daughter to help them. If victims had no email account the company arranged for a courier service to visit them to deliver the documents.

The court heard the purpose of obtaining a quick signature was so that the company could take the upfront fee as soon as possible, however the evidence suggested that in many cases the fees were simply taken before signatures were collected or without any signature being obtained. Mr Reynolds said victims would typically receive around five phone calls from the Swansea call centre on the same day, usually within the space of a few hours and with each successive phone call being “cleverly designed to build the victims’ trust and reinforce the impression that the victim had a valid PPI claim”. Having given their credit card details the victim would often get a final call just to confirm that their payment had gone through, and to say their claim was now commencing.

The court heard that to allay any concerns about the company the victims were frequently told the company was “regulated”, “fully regulated” or “government regulated”, and they were directed to the Companies House website to show the firm was registered on a “government website”. If a victim chose to look at the Synergy website they would find fake customer testimonials, such as the one purporting to be from a “Mr Jones in Devon” which read “Synergy Express Audits were fast and reliable… and also passed my information onto their affiliate company to handle my PPI and package bank account fee. This was mis-sold to me and I got my refund in less than 12 weeks”.

The court heard no evidence of a Mr Jones from Devon having got a refund was ever found in the company records. It was complaints from legitimate PPI reclaim companies about the conduct of HES Synergy that led the Ministry of Justice to launch an investigation into its operations in September 2015. The extent and sophistication of the fraud was revealed after search warrants were executed at the company’s offices on Swansea Enterprise Park in the following January.

The court heard that by the time of the raids the business had already stopped trading but this was not due to an attack of conscience or morals on the part of the scammers but was simply because so many unhappy consumers had used the chargeback procedure on their credit cards to try to get their payments back that the firm was struggling to get payment providers willing to work with them. Trading standards officers recovered hundreds of thousands of recorded phone calls between staff and victims and potential victims, as well as the call centre scripts with the misleading and false statements which staff had been using. The prosecutor said while the fraud was orchestrated from those at the top of the business, anyone involved in the PPI calls for any length of time would have realised that lying was “rampant, essential, and expected” and in the call centre “lying to customers was the norm”. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here [5]

The court hard that determining a loss figure in this case was not straightforward. While some 440 individual victims have been identified the amounts processed through merchant banking facilities suggested the figure was in fact higher because as Synergy struggled to secure payment facilities it frequently turned to “less accountable and transparent facilities” sometimes based abroad and sometimes in the names of others. Mr Reynolds said some of the merchant facilities the firm used provided only basic figures to investigators while some had ceased to trade and others were “less than fully cooperative” during the investigation.

He said the investigative team had concluded that the approximate loss to individual victims was in the region of GBP200,000 and approximate total loss to the victims and financial institutions combined was in the region of GBP300,000.

Mr Reynolds said the call centre business had been fraudulent in nature from the start and its aim had been to obtain the up front fees from consumers. He said while it could not be said the millions of initial unsolicited “fishing” calls had been targeted at elderly people, many of the people who became victims were elderly and when they had been identified as being older they were “exploited”.

The court heard that while the aim of the call centre had been to secure the up-front “fee” from victims, the details of some people had been passed on to legitimate PPI reclaim businesses. A total of four people had in fact received a PPI refund, though the amounts received had been far less than promised by Synergy. The barrister said it was the prosecution case that Rhodri Rees was the lead defendant in terms of the dishonest practices at Synergy while Ashley Lewis – who was effectively the call centre manager – Simon Mathias and Aled Rees played subordinate roles but should be categorised as leading in the context of the fraud.

Ben French, Jamie Hayes, Scott Macauley, John Govier, Phillip Bowler, Craig Hanford, Gemma Thomas, Courtney Preece, Ashley Sturley, Keri Williams, and Daniel Morgan had various roles and titles – sometimes interchangeable – on the phones and in the call centre. He said a 16th defendant, Ross Elliott, had allowed the firm to process payments in his name when it was struggling to find payment facilities providers willing to work with it. Addressing the delay in the case Mr Reynolds said the initial investigation had been carried out by the Ministry of Justice but after working on the case for two years the MoJ team was disbanded and the case was later handed to Swansea Council.

The local authority then put together a six-strong team to go through the large amounts of material and hundreds of thousands of recorded phone calls in the case. There were further delays once the case reached the court system. Judge Huw Rees said the call centre operation had been a “deliberate, planned fraud carefully structured and fraudulent from its inception” and at the heart of the conspiracy lay the defendants’ greed which “overrode any compassion or concern” for the victims.

He told the defendants they had routinely misled people about the prospect of PPI refunds and peddled “blatant lies” on the phones, noting the lies “tripped easily off the tongue” for them. He said not only had the fraud effected individual victims who had been left with a feeling of “violation” but had effected the wider public’s respect and confidence in the industry. The judge said the offending took place in the last quarter of 2015 and most of the defendants had been interviewed by the last quarter of 2016 with the case being sent to the crown court for sentence in June 2020 after the defendants were charged by postal requisition.

He said the four-and-a-half year delay between offending and sending fell squarely on the shoulders of the prosecution, and he said he had been told of a transfer in responsibility for prosecution between the Ministry of Justice and Swansea Council. He said no blame for the delay was to be attributed to the council. The judge said the net effect of the delay was that he was sentencing offending that happened eight years ago, and he said that “disconnect” between offending and sentence would be reflected in a reduction of 12 months in each of the sentences.

He said all sentences would reflect the role the individual had played in the call centre operation, as well as discounts for the delay, personal mitigation, and guilty pleas where applicable.

The defendants:

Rhodri Rees, aged 37, of Heol Barcu, Birchgrove, Swansea

Admitted conspiracy to commit fraud
34 month prison sentence
Barrister Damien Nolan, for Rees, said the defendant was a “hard working and industrious” man and “it will forever remain unclear” why he moved from the successful business he was involved in to the fraudulent call centre operation.
Judge Rees told told Rees he had been the “instigator” of the fraud, had arranged the lease on the building the company used, was the sole signatory on the firm’s account, and knew about how staff were trained and how they operated. He noted the defendant had significant experience in call centre-type work. Rees was sentenced to 34 months in prison.

He will serve up to half that sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

Aled Wyn Rees, aged 33, of Morgan’s Terrace, Main Road, Pontrhydyfen

Admitted conspiracy to commit fraud
13 months in prison suspended for 12 months with 200 hours unpaid work
Paul Hodgkinson, for Rees, said his client had been the first to show the bravery to plead guilty in he case. He said the defendant been working for a legitimate energy switching company when he “foolishly” became involved in the conspiracy, and was made a director of company alongside his older brother the co-defendant Rhodri Rees. The barrister said in reality his client had been “a director in name only” and while he had always looked up to his older sibling he feels he has been “set up as a fall guy”.
The judge said Rees had been a director of the company but had played a subordinate role to his older brother.

He said he was conscious of the fact that Rees cared for his elderly parents and of the effect it would have on them were the defendant to be sent straight to prison. The judge said “on that basis and that basis alone” he was prepared to suspend the sentence. Aled Rees was sentenced to 13 months in prison suspended for 12 months and must complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

Ashley Scott Lewis, aged 41, of Caernarvon Way, Bonymaen, Swansea

Convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit fraud

24 months in prison suspended for 12 months with 250 hours unpaid work
Craig Jones, for Lewis, accepted there was something of the “peacock” in the way the defendant presented himself and had behaved in the call centre, and in reality “his boasted knowledge rather exceeded his actual knowledge”.

He said the defendant’s life had “changed beyond all recognition” since 2015 and he was now a well-respect mechanic with his own business who was expecting a child with his partner in six weeks time.
Judge Rees told Lewis he had routinely mislead people on the phone using an “aggressive and totally inappropriately forceful manner”. He said the defendant had been motivated by financial gain and his need to fund his cocaine habit, and he told him he had “made a success of your dishonesty” to the tune of around GBP1,000 a week. The judge noted Lewis’ comments to the author of the pre-sentence report about the “win at all costs” attitude at play in call centres, and he said the defendant’s character had “settled well into that toxic atmosphere”.

He said given the engagement the defendant had shown with probation following his conviction for offences committed while the call centre investigation was on-going, and the steps he had taken to tackle his drug issues and to rehabilitate himself, he was persuaded – though “with some hesitation” – to impose a suspended sentence. The judge told Lewis he had come “as close as close can be” to going straight to prison

Simon Mathias, aged 42, of Bryn Road, Llanelli

Admitted conspiracy to commit fraud
18 months in prison suspended for 12 months with 200 hours unpaid work
Scott Bowen, for Mathias, said the defendant had been a director of his own business when he “associated himself with this enterprise”. He said Mathias was the father of two young children and “has learned from his mistakes”
The judge told Mathias he had been instrumental in running the company and had knowledge of the way the product was being sold.

The judge said though the defendant “richly deserved” immediate custody he was mindful of the fact Mathias was a family man with two children and was the family’s main earner. The defendant was sentenced to 18 months in prison suspended for 12 months and must complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

Courtney Rebeca Preece, aged 27, Delabeche Street, Llanelli

Admitted conspiracy to commit fraud
22 week suspended sentence and 100 hours unpaid work
Scott Bowen, for Preece, said the defendant had been aged just 19 at the time of the offending and had been living an “unstable lifestyle, not seeing beyond Friday and Saturday nights”. He said over the last eight years his client had grown up and was now a mother to a young daughter and was in a long-term relationship.
Judge Rees said Preece had played a “peripheral role” in the operation.

He said Preece had been 19 at the time of the offending and by her own admissions had been a “wild child and a wild teenager” but had now moved on. She was sentenced to 22 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months and was ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

Ashley Dwain Sturley, aged 35, of Carlton Terrace, Mount Pleasant, Swansea

Admitted conspiracy to commit fraud
22 week suspended sentence and a rehabilitation course and a mental health treatment requirement
Mark Davies, for Sturley, said it was clear from the contents of a pre-sentence report that his client “takes full responsivity” for his involvement in the call centre operation, and that he wishes to apologise.
Sturley was sentenced to 22 weeks in prison suspended for 12 month and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and a mental health treatment requirement.

Craig James Hanford, aged 32, of Hillrise Park, Clydach, Swansea Valley

Admitted conspiracy to commit fraud
10 months in prison suspended for 12 months with 180 hours unpaid work
Tom Trobe, for Hanford, said his client had worked in legitimate businesses dealing with energy provider switching and boiler replacement schemes before moving to the fraudulent PPI call centre and he “bitterly regrets” his involvement.
Craig Hanford, who worked as a closer in the call centre, was sentenced to 10 months in prison suspended for 12 months and was ordered to pay 180 hours of unpaid work.

Jamie Mark Hayes, aged 37, of Atlantic Drive, Broadhaven, Pembrokeshire

Admitted conspiracy to commit fraud
Eight month suspended sentence and 150 hours community work
Byron Broadstock, for Hayes, said his client had worked in Spain arranging DJ nights in clubs, and with little in the way of income been asked to join the company by one of the directors who he happened to know. He said while the defendant initially believed the business to be legitimate it had to be accepted that the “deceit” in the scripts that staff were using became apparent to him during the course of his employment.

He said in the years since the offending Hayes had become a father, had set up a nightclub – which failed during the Covid pandemic – and ran his own music promotion business. The barrister said like everyone else involved in the case the defendant “was the architect of his own misfortune” but he said the long delay in the prosecution had “weighed heavily” on the his client.
The judge said Hayes had also worked as a “closer” and then floor manager in the operation, and he noted the defendant had pleaded guilty and was now self-employed and had a young child. Hayes was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for 12 months and was ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work.

Phillip John Bowler, aged 34, of Rosehill Terrace, Mount Pleasant, Swansea

Admitted conspiracy to commit fraud
Eight months in prison suspended for 12 months with a drug rehabilitation requirement and rehabilitation programme
Jon Tarrant, for Bowler, said the defendant had successfully tackled his addiction to benzodiazepines while serving his last prison sentence and was now drug-free.

He said said Bowler has a four-year-old daughter who he sees on a daily basis.
The judge said Bowler had had previous claims management company experience before joining Synergy, and had falsely referred to himself as being part of the “higher claims team” on the phone to victims. He said the defendant had been given a 24 month sentence in September last year for dangerous driving, battery, and possession of knife [8] – offences committed while subject to the fraud proceedings – and also has previously convictions for matters of dishonesty on his record. Bowler was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for 12 months and must complete a drug rehabilitation requirement which will include monthly reviews of his progress in front of judge Rees.

Gemma Adele Thomas, aged 31, of Penycae Road, Port Talbot [9]

Admitted conspiracy to commit fraud
Seven months in prison suspended for 12 months with 120 hours unpaid work
Huw Davies, for Thomas, said his client had worked at the PPI call centre for seven weeks, and the fraud was already up and running and “fully operational” before she joined.

He said Thomas now holds down two jobs working in the care sector and as an Amazon parcel delivery driver.
The judge said Thomas had worked at the call centre for six or seven weeks, and been aged 20 at the time. He said the defendant had now gained maturity and had a partner while holding down two jobs.

Keri Howard Williams, aged 53, of Lambert’s Road, SA1 development, Swansea

Convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit fraud
Six months in prison suspended for 12 months
Andrew Taylor, for Williams, said his client had been asked to work in the call centre by Rhodri Rees – a man he had known for “some time” – but “having been seduced and promised money” the remuneration never materialised. He said his client had told him in conference that “he can only hang his head in shame” at what he did
The judge said Williams had worked in call centre for around five weeks where his role had been accessing victim’s credit reports as part of the so-called “Noddle team”.

He noted the defendant had raised concerns about the legality of what was going on with Rhodri Rees, and he noted Thomas was now employed at a life insurance company.

Benjamin French, aged 39, of Brynamlwg, Gorseinon

Convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit fraud
10 months in prison suspended for 12 months with 180 hours of unpaid work
Lee Davies, for French, said the defendant had a background in working in supermarkets and, unlike some others involved in the case, he had had no prior experience of call centres. He said French was a father to young children and now runs his own cleaning business employing five people.
Judge Rees said French had worked as a “closer” and then a floor manager in the call centre operation. He noted the defendant had been convicted at trial, and he said he had read positive character references submitted to the court on behalf of the self-employed farther-of-three

Scott Macauley, aged 46, of Clwyd Road, Penlan, Swansea

Convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit fraud
13 months in prison suspended for 12 months with 180 hours unpaid work
Edward Mitchard, for Macauley, said his client had a background in sales and had gone to work at the call centre believing it was a legitimate business.

He said after working in Synergy the grandfather-of-two had gone on to work in Admiral Insurance for six years before taking voluntary redundancy last year
The judge said Macauley had been a “closer” and had been in phone contact with 112 victims on the phone while using the false name Scott Britton. He said he well-remembered from the trial a phrase which the defendant had used to people on the phone that they “had more chance of walking on the moon than of this claim failing”. He said it seemed from what he had read in reports that Macauley still maintains his innocence.

The judge noted the defendant has nine previous convictions for 26 offences though none involving dishonesty, and he noted the defendant cares for his disabled mother and now has a job with the travel company TUI.

John Francis Govier, aged 40, of Login Road, Waunarlwydd, Swansea

Convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit fraud
Six months in prison suspended for 12 months with 120 hours unpaid work
Hywel Davies, for Govier, said the defendant had got the job at Synergy through a recruitment agency, and had only spent 19 working days with the company. He said while accepting the verdict of the jury his client maintains the position he held at trial that he did not actively deceive anyone. The barrister accepted the defendant had used the false name of John Evans while working at the call centre but said the trial had heard that was a practice that was sometimes adopted in call centres, especially if someone had an unusual or distinctive surname.

He added that Govier had become a father a fortnight ago and was now working in the health sector
Sentencing Govier, Judge Rees noted his involvement in the Synergy call centre operation had been limited in time to one month where he had used the false name John Evans, and he was of previous good character. He also noted that the defendant now works – “of all places” – in a call centre

Daniel Raymond Morgan, aged 38, of Lamberts Road, SA1 development, Swansea

Convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit fraud
Six months in prison suspended for 12 months with a rehabilitation course and a mental health treatment requirement
Tom Scapens, for Morgan, said the defendant was a father to four children and, given his lack of convictions before or after his involvement in the call centre, the court “might think he is not a man in need of rehabilitation”.
Morgan, who was part of the Noddle team fraudulently accessing people’s credit reports

Ross Elliott, aged 41, of New Road, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire

Pleaded guilty to a single count of money laundering
19 months in prison suspended for 12 months with 180 hours unpaid work
Rebecca Randall, for Elliot, said her client had now “distanced himself” from any kind of employment in sales or in call centres, and works in his father’s painting and decorating business. She said in the years since the offending the defendant had got married and become a father.
Sentencing Elliot the judge said he was in a different position to the other defendants as he fell to be sentenced for money laundering not conspiracy to defraud.

He said the defendant had extensive experience in the claims management industry in south west Wales and had set up a payment facility for Synergy to use through which more than GBP101,000 flowed in just three weeks. The judge noted Elliot had previous convictions for dishonesty in the form of making false representations from Blackfriars Crown Court in London in 2014.

Speaking after the sentencing David Hopkins, Swansea Council [10] cabinet member for corporate services and performance, said: “This latest case is another worrying example of individuals intentionally setting up companies to purposely defraud the public out of their much needed finances. They clearly prayed on the vulnerabilities of the public, who may have been in need of extra money for themselves and their families.

Our trading standards team has worked exceptionally hard to unearth this business’s dishonest behaviour and I am pleased we have been able to shut them down and take action against all those involved. “Unsolicited automated calls are something we have become used to in our daily lives and we have all most likely received a call on our personal phones. My advice is to ignore these calls, where companies make promises to offer large sums of money.

Our advice is always the same – if it’s too good to be true, it is likely to be exactly that.”

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References

^ Swansea Crown Court (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^ Man loses use of hand after suffering horror glassing injury in pub attack (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^ Teaching assistant cleared of assaulting pupil with autism (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^ Swansea (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^ For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^ Man doubled his money selling jewellery stolen from widow’s house (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^ Banned and drunk driver smashed through police roadblock as officers dealt with a fatal crash (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^ 24 month sentence in September last year for dangerous driving, battery, and possession of knife (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^ Port Talbot (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^ Swansea Council (www.walesonline.co.uk)