Fake Virgin Media UK Broadband Engineers Charged Over Thefts

The Leicester Crown Court has sent one man to prison, with another facing an arrest warrant, after the pair were found to have posed as fake broadband ISP engineers in order to steal telecoms equipment from several storage containers, which belonged to Virgin Media (VMO2).

During the hearing Kevin Craig Mills, aged 40 from Coalville, admitted attempting to steal almost £500 worth of property from Virgin Media and theft of £2,000 worth of equipment from four other containers in various locations during October 2020.

However, the defendant’s accomplice, who remains at large and is said to have been in possession of a “special key” to open the containers, was found to be the prime mover after he hired a van specifically to commit the offences to steal Virgin Media’s kit in the Wiltshire and Bristol areas. But the pair were rumbled after one of the operator’s real engineers chased them off.

Judge Keith Raynor said (LeicestershireLive):

“You were told you’d be given some money for assisting in this criminal enterprise. It was a spree lasting several days. What you did caused direct financial harm to Virgin Media and disruption to the business overall.

When apprehended you were wearing construction workers’ clothing and had a metal sign from a sub-contracting firm, it was deeply dishonest.”

Mills was struggling with a drug addiction at the time and claims to have met the other man, who he had known for a number of years, through roofing work before being asked to assist in the crime. Mills has now been jailed for 10-months, and hopefully it won’t be long before the police catch up to his alleged accomplice.

Sadly, it’s not the first time that criminals have posed as fake engineers in order to steal telecoms equipment. Last year, the Worcester Crown Court convicted three men after they dressed up as fake engineers in order to steal vital backup batteries from Openreach’s (BT) street cabinets, which supply broadband and phone connectivity to homes and businesses (here).