A group of nine men have been convicted in connection with one of the biggest courier fraud investigations carried out by British police.
Three men were found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud and one man was found guilty of money laundering today, 10 December at the Old Bailey.
Five others had already pleaded guilty to either conspiracy to commit fraud or money laundering offences; all as a result of 10-month investigation by detectives from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command (SO15).
The group was involved in what was described as an ‘industrial-scale’ conspiracy to commit fraud by targeting elderly and vulnerable adults in courier fraud-style scams with around 140 offences identified by police, and over £1 million defrauded or attempted to be defrauded from their victims.
The scam involved various members of the group working together to gain the trust of their victims and persuading them to hand over cash to their ‘couriers’ whom the victims believed were working for the police on secret investigations.
In one of the cases, a 76-year-old woman from Poole, Dorset, was targeted by the group and defrauded her of just over £135,000. In another, a 94-year-old man from north west London had £130,000 stolen after handing it over to the fraudsters.
The investigation into the group was launched in December 2014 by detectives from the National Terrorism Financial Investigation Unit (NTFIU – part of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command), after SO15 detectives carrying out a separate counter terrorism (CT) investigation noticed irregular bank transfers for large sums to an individual, who was later identified as having travelled to Syria.
When specialist officers from the NTFIU investigated further, they linked the payments to other members of the group. Through their enquiries, officers began to link together several courier fraud offences across the country and they discovered 16 telephone lines the group was using to carry out the frauds. When they analysed the phone lines, officers found that a total of 5,695 calls had been made to 3,774 different numbers across the UK.
At the centre of the scam was Makzhumi Abukar, who officers identified as the main organiser and coordinator, directing the frauds from his north London address.
Abukar, along with Achmed Abdulaziz Ahmed and Sakaria Aden were linked to the majority of the frauds identified, with the other men linked to some, but not all of the frauds.
Between March and June 2015 officers arrested a number of suspects, which culminated in the nine convictions above.
Commander Richard Walton, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) said:
“This callous group of criminals stole vast sums of money from extremely vulnerable and elderly people from across the country. Their despicable actions have had a terrible and devastating impact on their victims with some losing their life savings. The targeting of vulnerable men and women in their 80s and 90s is quite simply beyond belief.
“This was a scam on a huge national scale detected by specialist financial investigators who have stopped the targeting of even more victims. Our investigation remains on-going and we will continue to arrest and prosecute anyone involved in this fraud.
“We uncovered this fraud after a separate terrorist investigation found suspicious payments into a bank account of an individual who is now believed to have travelled to Syria.
“I urge the public to look at our crime prevention advice on this issue. Police or banks will never ask to collect your bank cards, will never ask for your PIN and will never ask for money, so if you get one of these calls, please hang up and either use another line to call and report it to police or wait at least five minutes for your line to clear before calling 999.”
The following people were convicted of either conspiracy to commit fraud or money laundering offences:
Fahim Islam, 20 (14.01.1995) of Monthope Road, Stepney, E1; Achmed Abdulaziz Ahmed, 23 (20.06.1992) of Morgan Road, Holloway, N7; and Makzhumi Abukar, 23 (01.01.1992), of Holloway, N7 all previously pleaded guilty.
Anrul Islam, 24 (16.11.1991), of Hedgemans Road, Dagenham; Mohammed Youssfi, 37 (21.07.1977) of Fulham Road, West Brompton; pleaded guilty to money laundering.
Mohammed Sharif Abokar, 28 (26.06.1987) of Islington N1 guilty of money laundering; Sakaria Aden, 22 (04.12.1993) of Stoke Newington, N16; Mohamed Dahir, 23 (06.09.1992) of Finsbury Park, N4; Yasser Abukar, 24 (01.11.1991) of Holloway, N7; were all found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud following a five-week trial at the Central Criminal Court.
Ibrahim Farah, 23 (28.07.92) of Mingard Walk, N7; was found not guilty.
We await a date for sentencing.
Victims identified across the country included:
a 91-year-old man from Dorset – lost £8,000;
a 73-year-old woman from Cornwall – lost £130,000;
a 86-year-old woman from Dorset – lost approx £14,000;
a 86-year-old man from Kent – lost £3,000;
a 72-year-old man from Dorset – lost £94,000;
a 83-year-old woman from Cornwall – lost £11,000;
a 94-year-old man from North West London – lost £130,000.
Other offences were also identified in Bedfordshire, Devon and Hertfordshire.
How courier fraud works [please note that release of PIN numbers did not feature in this case]:
Courier fraud works by the suspect telephoning the victim and claiming to be someone from an authority – usually the police, bank or Serious Fraud Office. They tell them that their bank account has been compromised and their card must be collected. The most convincing element of the ruse is that the suspect instructs the victim to hang up and call the police/bank/Serious Fraud Office on a genuine number to check that they are who they say they are. The victim dials the new number but the fraudster does not disconnect so, unknown to the victim, they are still speaking to the suspect or a co-conspirator.
The fraudster then convinces the victim to reveal their PIN, usually by typing it in on their keypad. The suspect is able to tell which keys have been pressed. They then instruct the victim to put their bank card in an envelope and send a – usually unwitting – courier or taxi driver to the victim’s house to collect it. The card is delivered to another suspect and is used, with the PIN, to empty the victim’s bank account.
Variations to the scam, include:
The suspect asks the victim to help with a police investigation into corruption at the bank or Post Office. The victim is asked to withdraw money from their account and give it to them, so it can be marked by police and paid back into the bank – but the victims never see their money again.
Suspects ask the victim buy jewellery or other high-value item to identify counterfeit goods or help with an investigation into corrupt staff. The victim is instructed to give it to the suspect or to a taxi driver, who delivers it to the suspect.
The victim is told that their bank account it at risk and that to protect it they should transfer their money into a ‘safe account’, set up by the suspect posing as an official. The bank account belongs to the suspect.
The Metropolitan Police Service has the following advice for potential victims:
Police and banks will never ask for your PIN, bank card;
Never give your PIN or bank card to anyone;
Nor will the police ask for money or for you to buy them items;
If you are contacted by someone who asks for you to do any of these things, hang up;
Use a different line to report it to police on 101 or allow at least five minutes for the line to automatically clear. Call 999 if the crime is in action.