Man pleads guilty to Tube text message scam

A man has pleaded guilty to plotting to target Tube passengers in a "smishing" scam involving fake messages about a failed parcel delivery.

Daoyan Shang, 20, admitted conspiracy to defraud between January and March 2025 on the fifth day of his trial at Inner London Crown Court. He had previously denied the offence.

Passengers on the London Underground were lured into parting with their details by a "criminal gang" using homemade "SMS blasters" inside suitcases, the prosecution said.

The hidden devices sent fake messages to passers-by pretending to be from well-known parcel delivery companies, such as Evri, with the aim of "plunder[ing] their bank accounts," the prosecution told jurors.

Shang's guilty plea comes a day after Zhijia Fan, 48, also changed his plea to guilty on the same charge.

Fan had been described as the "top boss" during the trial with Shang his "right-hand man" in the smishing gang.

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."

Prosecutor Alex Davidson told jurors in Fan and Shang's trials that the two men used "crude" devices, called "SMS blasters", that worked by "masquerading as a legitimate cell tower, tricking nearby phones into connecting to it instead of their normal network" and sending "fraudulent messages... with links to fraudulent websites".

The prosecution said it was not pressing ahead with a further charge of possessing an article for use in fraud against Fan and Shang.

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, called Jinhua Zhang, 58, is on the run, having fled when he was released on bail, the court was told.

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