Wiltshire man played part in scam that stole over £5.7 million

James Heppel, 42, from Staverton and his accomplice Jake Lee, 38, from Charlcombe in Bath, both pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud at Bristol Crown Court on Friday, May 3. 

Lee was sentenced to four years and Heppel to 15 months.

The pair carried out the fraud by spoofing the domain of online cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain.com to access victims’ Bitcoin wallets, stealing their funds and login details.

In total, 55 victims in 26 different countries have been identified. Cash totalling £835,000, which includes a suitcase containing £551,000 cash voluntarily handed over by Lee in January, as well as £64,000 worth of cryptocurrency, a Banksy print worth £60,000 and three vehicles, have all been restrained.

A confiscation order for nearly £1 million was made against Lee, which will be used to compensate the victims.

DS Matt Brain, from SWROCU’s Regional Cyber Crime Unit, said: “Our investigation started back in 2018 after colleagues at Avon and Somerset Police arrested Lee on suspicion of money laundering. As well as £24,000 cash, officers from the force seized digital devices and three laminated Bitcoin wallet recovery seeds.

“At the same time, our unit had started an investigation into a cryptocurrency scam reported by a Wiltshire victim who had £11,000 worth of Bitcoin from his Blockchain wallet.

“We took on the investigation into Lee and when we analysed his devices, we established he was a central figure involved in a sophisticated domain spoofing fraud and worked to identify numerous victims.

“Mapping out Lee and Heppel’s offending and links to other suspects and cryptocurrency exchanges all over the world was complex work, but the fact they both pleaded guilty to all counts, negating the need for a six-week trial, shows the strength of evidence we secured against them.”

Pamela Jain, a specialist prosecutor with the Serious Economic Organised Crime International Directorate of the Crown Prosecution Service, added: “Jake Lee and James Heppel defrauded people in 26 countries, including 11 victims in the UK, by diverting Bitcoin into wallets over which they had control.

“This was a complex and time-consuming prosecution which involved enquiries with numerous victims and prosecuting authorities all over the world.”