Sunday 1 November 2026Compiled from published reports. Every claim links to its source.

Ireland Crime

Every case followed from the first report to the sentence, or to where the reporting stopped.

Case No. 22413Regulatory offence (breach of Communications Regulation (Premium Rate Services and Electronic Communications Infrastructure) Act, 2010) · Co. Dublin · 1 Aug 2021

Kaleyra UK Ltd pleads guilty to 22 premium rate service offences after spoofing attack

Kaleyra UK Ltd, a premium service aggregator, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court on 13 February 2023 to 22 offences under the Communications Regulation (Premium Rate Services and Electronic Communications Infrastructure) Act 2010 after a spoofing malware attack caused more than 9,000 phone users to be wrongly charged up to €520,000. Judge Anthony Halpin applied the Probation of Offenders Act, sparing the company a recorded conviction, and ordered a €5,000 charitable donation.

  1. Reportednot reported
  2. Arrestednot reported
  3. Chargednot reported
  4. In courtnot reported
  5. Verdictnot reported
  6. Sentenced13 Feb
reportedhappened, not reportedlatest stagenot yet

Key facts

consolidated from all reports
20 statements extracted from the articles
  • whatThree Ireland noticed a pattern leading to a 40,000 increase in premium rates among its customers (irishtimes.com)
  • whatThree Ireland rejected 30,000 of the premium rate charges (irishtimes.com)
  • whatSome 9,500 customers were each charged €10 a week until they unsubscribed (irishtimes.com)
  • whatKaleyra had not contacted ComReg and did not have an adequate refund mechanism or security (irishtimes.com)
  • whatKaleyra pulled out of the Irish market (irishtimes.com)
  • whatKaleyra had refunded the 9,500 wrongly charged customers (irishtimes.com)
  • whatKaleyra entered the Irish market 10 years ago and had no prior convictions (irishtimes.com)
  • whatThe premium rate content was typically games, competitions, fitness and diet plans, or adult content (irishtimes.com)
  • whatOne wrongly opted-in account belonged to a SIM card used in security gates (irishtimes.com)
  • whatIt was the first time the spoofing had happened in Ireland (irishtimes.com)
  • whatKaleyra had inadequate internal monitoring procedures to protect customers (irishtimes.com)
  • whatKaleyra had not profited from the incident (irishtimes.com)
  • whenThe spoofing pattern ran from August 2021 until January 2022 (irishtimes.com)
  • investigationThe investigation was carried out by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) (irishtimes.com)
  • chargeThe offence was a strict liability offence (irishtimes.com)
  • courtKaleyra UK Ltd pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to 22 offences (irishtimes.com)
  • courtJudge Anthony Halpin accepted Kaleyra had been a victim of a security attack (irishtimes.com)
  • courtAn early guilty plea was entered at the first available opportunity (irishtimes.com)
  • sentenceJudge Halpin applied the Probation of Offenders Act, sparing the company a recorded conviction (irishtimes.com)
  • sentenceKaleyra was to donate €5,000 to charity by March 13 (irishtimes.com)

The reporting

newest first
  1. 13 Feb2023
    Sentencedirishtimes.com, first report
    Thousands of phone users wrongly charged up to €520,000 for premium services after spoofing attack

    Reports the guilty plea and sentencing of Kaleyra UK Ltd for 22 premium rate service offences following a spoofing malware attack that wrongly charged over 9,000 customers up to €520,000.