[10] In the 2015 murder of English mobster Paul Massey, the killers used a similar service providing encrypted BlackBerry phones based on PGP.

After the Dutch and Canadian police compromised their server in 2016, EncroChat turned into a popular alternative among criminals for its security-oriented services in 2017–2018.

[13] Through a marketing strategy of "relentless online advertising",[14] EncroChat rapidly expanded during its four and a half years of existence, benefiting from the closure of its competitors Amsterdam-based PGP Safe (customised BlackBerry)[15] and Ennetcom.

[2] EncroChat first came to the attention of the media when it was revealed that high-profile criminals Mark Fellows and Steven Boyle had been using the encrypted devices to communicate during the May 2018 gangland murder of John Kinsella in Rainhill, England.

[17][10][18] The service resurfaced in the media during the summer of 2020 after law enforcement announced that they had infiltrated the encrypted network and investigative journalist Joseph Cox, who had been reviewing EncroChat for months, published an exposé in Vice Motherboard.

[19][1] The EncroChat service was available for handsets called "carbon units",[21] whose GPS, camera and microphone functions were disabled by the company for privacy reasons.

[1][14] Devices were sold with pre-installed applications, including EncroChat, an OTR-based messaging app which routed conversations through a central server based in France, EncroTalk, a ZRTP-based voice call service, and EncroNotes, which allowed users to write encrypted private notes.

[1][23] According to journalist Jurre van Bergen, the IP of EncroChat's server points to French web hosting company OVH.

[1] The phones were reportedly bought via a physical transaction which "looked like a drug deal",[1] and at least one case involves an ex-military operative selling devices in Northern Ireland.

[25] The EncroChat encrypted messaging service and the related customized phones were discovered by France's National Gendarmerie in 2017 when conducting operations against organized crime gangs.

[2][26] At the time of the Fellows and Boyle trial in December 2018, the NCA struggled to crack the lock screen passcode, as anything was wiped out after a set number of attempts.

[23] The chief of the Dutch National Police Force, Jannine van den Berg [nl], compared the malware to "sitting at the table where criminals were chatting among themselves".

[1][19] On the night of 12–13 June 2020, once EncroChat suspected the infiltration by law enforcement had occurred,[2] users received a secret message: Today, we had our domain seized illegally by government entities(s).

[30] The Europol-supported JIT, code named Emma 95 in France and 26Lemont in the Netherlands, allowed the gathering in real time of millions of messages between suspects.

[31] On 22 June 2020, the Dutch police also discovered a "torture chamber" in a warehouse near the town of Wouwse Plantage [nl] about 7 km (5 miles) east of Bergen op Zoom.

The facility, which was still under construction when discovered, consisted of seven cells made out of sound-proofed shipping containers; torture tools were found including a dentist's chair, hedge trimmers, scalpels and pliers.

[34][24] As a result of the infiltration of the network, UK police arrested 746 individuals, including major crime bosses, intercepted two tonnes of drugs (with a street value at the time in excess of £100 million), seized £54 million in cash, as well as weapons, including submachine guns, handguns, grenades, an AK-47 assault rifle, and more than 1,800 rounds of ammunition.

44, 45, 46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007 (the "SCA 2007)"..."[39] In other words, the NCA's arguments for obtaining the warrant was, "if you don't grant this, we could be prosecuted for criminally participating in the hacking of United Kingdom citizens devices."

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) concluded that the National Crime Agency (NCA) did not deliberately conceal information from the Judicial Commissioner when applying for the Targeted Equipment Interference (TEI) warrant.

The tribunal dismissed various claims and complaints, declaring that the TEI warrant was lawfully issued and that the NCA did not fail in its duty of candor.

The Metropolitan Police seized more than £13.4 million in cash, 16 firearms, more than 500 rounds of ammunition, 620 kg (1400 lb) of Class A drugs, and arrested 171 people.

[52] In July 2024, former Gibraltar international footballer Jason Pusey was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his involvement in a large-scale drug operation, coordinating the supply of significant quantities of cocaine, ketamine, and cannabis.