Southwark Crown Court heard how he rented a docklands apartment with views over the City of London skyline.
He also owned a Lamborghini supercar worth almost £250,000 and spent £120,000 on two matching Range Rover SUVs for himself and his girlfriend. When police raided his flat they found a money counter, designer jewellery and a Rolex watch worth £11,000.
Fletcher, a father of one, was snared by police last year in what is the biggest anti-fraud operation mounted in the UK.
John Ojakovoh, prosecuting, said: “This is a case which concerns the facilitation of fraud on an industrial scale by iSpoof, the website. What it did, in brief, it provided tools for fraudsters to deceive unwitting members of the public.”
He went on: “There was no upper limit on the number of the victims, of the potential losses or other harm that was envisioned against the victims.”
As well as allowing fraudsters to pose as bank employees, the software also allowed users to trick victims into entering new card details by claiming the information held by a trusted organisation was out of date.
One victim lost £3m, while the 4785 people who reported being targeted to Action Fraud lost an average of £10,000, according to police.
The court heard Fletcher, a former drama student, carried out “market research”, promoted new products and encouraged users to commit fraud.
In a message to customers on January 3, 2022 he wished them “Happy New Year” and then urged: “All back to work, back to getting that bag.”
10 million fraudulent claims
Of 10 million fraudulent calls made, 40 per cent were in the United States, 35 per cent were in the UK and the rest were spread across other countries.
Last month, Fletcher pleaded guilty to four charges, including making or supplying an article for use in fraud, encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, possession of criminal property and transferring criminal property, between Nov 30, 2020 and Nov 8, 2022.
Simon Baker KC, said: “His guilty plea reflects his genuine regret and remorse for his actions and his sincere wish to apologise to those who have suffered as a result of the frauds perpetrated against them as a result of the iSpoof website.”
Baker described Fletcher as an “extremely bright young man”, adding: “It is extremely unfortunate that intellect was not channelled into gainful activities.”
Fletcher will be sentenced on Friday.
Thomas Short, Specialist Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Fraud is an insidious crime and the cost to the many victims in this case has not just been financial; it has also caused huge emotional distress and devastation.”
Helen Rance, Metropolitan Police Det Supt, said: ‘”I am incredibly proud of my team in the Cyber Crime unit who ran this investigation resulting in Fletcher pleading guilty. He was the ringleader of a slick fraud website which enabled criminals to scam innocent people of millions of pounds.”
