News & Articles

Two men accused of conning members of the public out of money they thought was going towards Olympic tickets have been convicted by a jury. Alan Scott, 56, from Chigwell, Essex, and Terence Shepherd, 52, from Blackheath, south-east London, allegedly convinced sports fans to pay up to 48 times the face value of tickets for the 2008 Games held in Beijing. But the tickets never arrived. Scott was found guilty of two counts of fraudulent trading of the tickets, while the jury found Shepherd guilty of one count of money-laundering. Six further charges are still being deliberated. The pair are alleged to have scammed a number of victims including the parents of swimmer Rebecca Adlington, who won two gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Copyright Press Association 2011

A top surveyor has been found guilty of joining a £10 million mortgage con from which she got luxury cars and a new home. Mary-Jane Rathie got over £1 million after looking at a series of top-class properties in London and inflating the value of them, the Old Bailey heard. The 43-year-old, who is married to a police officer, got a Range Rover Sport and Bentley Continental - collectively worth £200,000 - on top of £900,000 via cash transfers and cheques. For the Crown, David Durose told the jury she used the lump sum to finish paying off a mortgage and to buy a new home. He said the money was payment for the dishonest valuations the surveyor - from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire - had given the properties. Rathie is behind bars on remand awaiting sentence after being found guilty of five fraud charges - which took place between for 25 months from May 2007 - and a count of concealing criminal property. Copyright Press Association 2011

A man who admitted trying to defraud HM Revenue & Customs of £6.8 million was caught out when he used invoices and bank statements containing a number of errors, it has been revealed. As well as submitting fake repayment claims for VAT and income tax worth more than £1.6 million each, London man Gregory Roberts also sent revenue officials a fraudulent company tax return for almost £3.5 million. However, his scam was exposed when HMRC officers suspicious about the size of the rebate being demanded asked for evidence to back up his claims. Spelling Dumfries as "Bum Fries" was just one example of the mistakes made by Roberts that tipped off HMRC, while he also showed transactions in false bank statements that were occurring in the future. Telling Roberts that fraud against HMRC was not a victimless crime as the public would have to pick up the tab, the judge at the Old Bailey jailed him for 12 months. Copyright Press Association 2011

A group of conmen have been found guilty of running a £20 million scam which targeted UK pensioners. The fraud saw George Abrue and his team talk their victims into parting with their life savings in a bid to maintain the gang members' luxury way of life. The pensioners were urged to stump up cash for assets that simply did not exist, Newcastle Crown Court heard. Abrue was at the helm of an eight-strong team - including his wife and mother-in-law, who have been found guilty of assisting the operation. Sarah Robson, 28, and Jocelyn Cowper, 57, were convicted more than a month after Abrue, 30, was jailed for five years. A source revealed that after losing £1.4 million to the scam, one pensioner contemplated killing himself. An 87-year-old Second World War RAF veteran from Ware, in Hertfordshire, was also among the fraudsters' victims. Ray Turner, who was cheated out of more than £75,000, said that he had been sucked in by initial emails and hooked by subsequent phone calls. Officers netted Abrue after setting up an operation to contact him via his estranged wife's phone. Last month six other members of the gang were jailed. Scott Henderson, 31, was jailed for five years. Anton Deach, 25, was jailed for four years. Thee-year, nine-month terms were each handed down to Babatunde Aluko and Sam Hamed; Dean Hamilton was jailed for three years and Mark Brannan for 18 months. All were sentenced over charges of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering. If you have a fraud issue, please visit our fraud page and get in touch for a discreet discussion of how we can help. Alternatively look for good advice from solicitors. Copyright Press Association 2011

The former chief executive of a company has received a 12-month prison sentence after costing investors millions of pounds, it has been revealed. Stuart Pearson, 63, was jailed over the misrepresentation of the £357 million value of investment services firm Crown Corporation Limited. Pearson falsely claimed that assets of the company, later known as Langbar International, were held by Banco do Brasil, and that after a year, more money would be transferred. Personal statements with these claims were made to investors and through official London stock market announcements in 2005. The aim was to give the appearance that the firm was an attractive investment and up its share price. Serious Fraud Office director Richard Alderman said: "This was fraud on a grand scale with scant regard for the essential integrity of the financial markets or for the inevitable losses and misery caused to the investors." The SFO said millions of pounds were lost, and it was unknown how many people were affected. The jury at Southwark Crown Court found Pearson guilty on three counts of making misleading statements, and acquitted him on nine others. As well as the 12-month sentence, Pearson was disqualified from acting as a company director for five years. Copyright Press Association 2011

People in senior management positions are more likely to be involved in fraudulent activities than junior staff members, new research has revealed. According to professional services group KPMG, fraud is easier to commit now because of the economic downturn, and scams are going unnoticed for longer. The consultancy conducted a global study into the crime, and found that the typical candidate is male, aged 36 to 45, holds a senior position in finance, has been in the role for longer than 10 years and acts in collusion with a partner. There has been a rise in fraudsters taking advantage of weak internal controls, it warned, with the number of cases involving the process at 74% this year, compared with 49% in 2007. The report stated that the struggling economic climate could partly be to blame, with smaller budgets resulting in a cut in risk management and control, providing more opportunities for accounts to be falsified or funds to be siphoned off. But the main motivation to commit fraud is still personal greed, followed by pressure to reach tough profit and budget targets, it said. "There tends to be less fraud in companies that make intolerance of fraud part of the corporate culture," the authors of the report wrote. Copyright Press Association 2011

Two former T-Mobile employees have pleaded guilty to offences under the Data Protection Act after customer details were stolen and sold to third parties.

David Turley, of Birmingham, and Darren Hames, of Staffordshire, were ordered to pay back £73,000 of the £85,000 they made but received only conditional discharges due to limited sentencing powers in data protection cases.

The employee theft was exposed when T-Mobile contacted the Information Commissioner's Office in December 2008 to report suspicions that customer information was being passed to "data brokers" by someone at the company.

Chester Crown Court heard that Hames, 39, a sales manager for T-Mobile in Hatfield, was illegally obtaining customer contract renewal data and selling it to Turley.

Turley, 40, a former T-Mobile employee, was selling the information to third parties who used it for direct marketing, the court heard.

Turley, who benefited by £57,400, was ordered to pay back £45,000 - his total realisable assets - within six months or he could face 18 months in jail. He was also given a three-year conditional discharge.

Hames, who benefited by £28,000, was ordered to pay this money back plus £500 costs. He was given an 18-month conditional discharge. If he does not pay within six months he will serve a 15-month prison sentence by default.

Copyright Press Association 2011

Employee theft and data protection are undoubtedly 2 of the biggest issues facing all businesses today. We provide an expert and cost effective service both in terms of preventing theft and for compliance with data protection and also in investigation of possible internal theft or leakage of confidential information.