A man has pleaded guilty to plotting to target Tube passengers in a text message scam using homemade ‘SMS blasters’ hidden inside suitcases.
Unsuspecting London Underground travellers who walked past the suitcases received fake messages about a failed parcel delivery and a link inviting them input their details to sort the problem, but the aim was really to ‘plunder their bank accounts’, the prosecution said.
On Friday, the fifth day of his trial at Inner London Crown Court, Daoyan Shang, 20, changed his plea to a charge of conspiracy to defraud between January and March 2025 to guilty.
It came a day after ‘top boss’ Zhijia Fan, 48, also changed his plea to guilty on the same charge.
The jury, upon the direction of the judge, returned a guilty verdict against Shang and was then dismissed.
The scam is known as ‘smishing’, a combination of SMS and phishing, where fraudsters try to get people to reveal personal information by duping them into thinking they are from a reputable company.
Recorder Alex Stein told the jury: ‘Sometimes in these courts it is when everyone is in the same room and the strength of the prosecution evidence is spelled out that the defendants see the strength of the case against them. That has been the case.’
The prosecution said it is not pressing ahead with a further charge of possessing an article for use in fraud against Fan and Shang, who was described as his ‘right-hand man’ in the smishing gang.
Zhijia Fan, 48, (pictured) and Daoyan Shang, 20, had been wheeling around large suitcases containing ‘SMS blasters’, which sent phishing messages to commuters
The pair were rumbled when an off-duty British Transport Police (BTP) officer spotted the suspicious cargo, which was riddled with holes, Inner London Crown Court heard. Pictured: Daoyan Shang, 20
Image of the text message scam using homemade ‘SMS blasters’ concealed in suitcases
Both men, of no fixed abodes, are to be sentenced on Tuesday along with two other defendants.
Wan Hafiz, 41, of no fixed abode, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and possession of articles for use in fraud.
Gatis Lauks, 25, of Ealing, west London, previously pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud by false representation.
Another suspect, Jinhua Zhang, 58, is on the run, having fled when he was released on bail.
Prosecutor Alex Davidson had told jurors in Fan and Shang’s trials: ‘The prosecution say that these two individuals were part of a crime group who, early last year, wheeled around devices in suitcases – known as SMS blasters – (that is a) short message service or text message – on the London Underground which sent scam messages to passengers’ phones, pretending to be from Evri and Royal Mail.’
He added: ‘Phone numbers are targeted and fraudulent text messages are broadcast, using a rather sophisticated device, which is adapted for the sole purpose of defrauding the public.’
He described the SMS blaster as a ‘crude’ device that worked by ‘masquerading as a legitimate cell tower, tricking nearby phones into connecting to it instead of their normal network’ and ‘once a phone connects to the SMS blaster, fraudulent messages are sent with links to fraudulent websites’.
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The gang used large suitcases with reinforced metal bottoms and holes punched into the material to allow ventilation for the ‘rather bulky and heavy’ base stations that were regularly breaking down.
The scheme began to unravel when an off-duty British Transport Police officer noticed one of the suspicious suitcases being dragged around.
After the hearing on Friday, BTP Detective Inspector Tim Weekes said: ‘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.’
He added: ‘These convictions were achieved thanks to the close work our detectives undertook with mobile network operators including BT, Virgin Media, O2, and Vodafone-Three, Sky, as well as the National Cyber Security Centre and Ofcom.’
