Rolex spencer
Former Made in Chelsea star, Spencer Matthews, had to hide in a vault in 2019 during an armed robbery at a London jewellers.

Gangs make a mint raffling stolen Rolex watches on WhatsApp

Stolen watches from the likes of Rolex and Audemars Piguet are being raffled on encrypted messaging apps by gangs capable of making tens of thousands of pounds for every “prize draw”.

Stolen watches from the likes of Rolex and Audemars Piguet are being raffled on encrypted messaging apps by gangs capable of making tens of thousands of pounds for every “prize draw”.

UK Protection, a specialist in security for luxury jewellers and watch stores, says criminal gangs are increasingly organised and using the latest technology to evade measures to track down stolen goods.

An emerging trend is the creation of lottery style auctions operated via encrypted messaging apps such as Telegram & WhatsApp, the company describes.

It works like this:

People sign up to groups on messaging apps and pay a small fee of, perhaps, £10 a month to an anonymous bank or PayPal account.

Signing up and paying enters people into a draw to win a luxury watch.

Some of these messaging groups contain up to 5,000 people so £10 from each can generate revenue of £50,000 for each lottery.

“Inevitably the watches used as prizes will have been recently stolen during a robbery from a store or from an unlucky person in the street,” a spokesperson for UK Protection says.

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