An international organized crime gang has been arrested following the theft of £12m of networking equipment from Cisco.

The arrests were made in London, Manchester and the English town of Nottingham.
 

The gang stole the kit by claiming replacement parts for Cisco equipment under its Service Warranty Program by using false identities. The kit was rerouted through fake companies in the US, England and Germany and sold on to customers, sometimes through eBay. 

The City of London Police conducted a series of raids and recovered 87 boxes of networking equipment valued at £1m. 

Three men and a woman were arrested with one report saying a fourth suspect had fled to China. 

A statement from the police said: ‘Members of the gang received daily instructions via email and moved around the country in hire cars. They would be on hand to collect the Cisco parts just minutes after delivery.’

This is not the first time Cisco has been hit by the scam. Back in 2006 UK police arrested two people over the theft of £9m worth of Cisco equipment in a similar warranty fraud which spanned the UK and US. Those arrests followed a six month international investigation.

 

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Barnard, from the City of London Police, said:

“By working closely with Cisco we have dismantled an organised crime gang committing fraud against a leading global technology company.

“At the same time we have together provided further evidence of what an effective force police and business can be when they come together to fight fraud.”