Crooks set up stall on UK govt's IT marketplace to peddle email fraud services targeting 'gullible' punters

The Cabinet Office has confirmed that scammers and/or jokers broke into the UK government's Digital Marketplace to promote a round-the-clock "bespoke" fraudulent email service that preys on "gullible consumers". The Reg was last week alerted by a source to a "Fraud Consultancy Service" listed for sale on the G Cloud portal by …

[Mike 137]

Honesty among thieves

""We develop bespoke Cloud-based online fraud solutions to target gullible consumers into parting with their cash ..."

Merely the ultimate extension of capitalism? At least they're above board about it.

[Joe W]

Re: Honesty among thieves

What I was wondering about was whether the gullible mark would be the one to buy the service....

[chrisa13]

Re: Honesty among thieves

Lord Vetinari does require all legitimate transactions be completed with the victim being given a full tax receipt.

[Flywheel]

I see the bizness is routed via the Cayman Islands, so I wonder how many of our elected representatives could have had a hand on this (were it not a joke).

I think the most worrying aspect of it, at the time of writing is this:

Fraud Consulting Limited stopped offering this service on Friday 15 May 2020.

Any existing contracts for this service are still valid.

[Doctor Syntax]

Maybe they put the wrong pitch on the site. The one they meant was to sell to political parties looking for gullible voters.

[Phil O'Sophical]

Surely those are the easy voters to find?

[Doctor Syntax]

Recent elections and the referendum saw considerable effort put into the job.

[taxman]

Replacement for TITSUP

You guys need words for COCKUP, for future Cabinet Office efforts to confirm their continued qualification of the IT equivalent of the Darwin Award.

[Pascal Monett]

Re: Replacement for TITSUP

Continuing Omnishambles Concerning Known Untrustworthy Politicans ?

[lglethal]

Nothing to worry about, it's just the Government's latest Quango. They've just been a bit more honest with the sales pitch then is normally recommended.

[Nifty]

Ah for a moment I thought it was a genuine advert for HMRC.

[Rich 11]

I didn't fall for it at all because it's well known that HMRC prefers to employ companies based in Bermuda, not the Cayman Islands.

[Dom 3]

"scammers and/or jokers"?

Oh come on. It's clearly someone 'avin a larf.

[Lotaresco]

Re: "scammers and/or jokers"?

" It's clearly someone 'avin a larf."

It clearly is. But it's like coming home to discover that your "friends" have entered your home, shaved the cat and decorated the kitchen with condoms. Hilarious[1] as it may be, it should not have been possible because the joker has achieved something that a criminal would also like to do.

[1] FSVO "Hilarious"

[Anonymous Coward]

Hard to trace

'"We develop bespoke Cloud-based online fraud solutions to target gullible consumers into parting with their cash, using payment gateways in Russia rotating funds through the Cayman Island to facilitate payment to public sector customers through UK-based institutions untraceable to the fraudulent activities," the notice reads.'

Well that's the House of Lords spoken for.

[Anonymous Coward]

I get involved from time to time with the G-cloud nonsense. I'm not surprised in the slightest that this has happened. Governments are notoriously poor at managing IT and because the services and management are provided by or are controlled by civil servants, most of whom have degrees in classics, PPE, literature, and history the people in control are remarkably naïve. It would be great if the government could go back to having the Scientific Civil Service that both Labour and Tory governments spent decades dismantling.