Prosecuted: A gang of fraudsters who fleeced a woman out of her
£1million life savings and blew the cash are facing jail. Gang member
Rilwan Adesegun Oshodi, is pictured left, and Annette Jabeth, right
A gang of fraudsters who fleeced a
woman out of her £1million life savings and blew the cash on
cheeseburgers, gold and computers are facing jail.
The
victim fell prey to a 'phishing' scam in which she unwittingly revealed
her personal details after receiving a bogus bank email from Egyptian
national, Tamer Abdelhamid.
Most of the money was spent during a lavish three-day shopping extravaganza in the New Year sales in January 2012.
According to detectives gang members blew their cash on items 'ranging from cheeseburgers to high-end computers and gold'.
Using the online moniker 'Aimless88',
Abdelhamid, 24, sold on the information for £3,200 to Nigerian
national, Rilwan Oshodi, 29, before Annette Jabeth, 26, originally from
Sierra Leone, pretended to be the victim and arranged for her bank
details to be changed.
The
British victim was living in South Africa at the time of the fraud in
December 2011, oblivious to the fact the cash was being siphoned out of
her account.
During a raid of Oshodi's home last
year, detectives discovered computers with details of more than 11,000
credit cards, including those of almost 8,500 UK customers - worth an
estimated £2.5million loss to the banking industry.
Fraud: The victim fell prey to a 'phishing' scam
in which she unwittingly revealed her personal details. This picture
shows Rilwan Adesegun Oshodi with what appear to be bottles of champagne
Oshodi poses with bottles of champagne. He
denied two counts of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to launder the
proceeds of crime
Cash sandwich: According to detectives gang
members blew their cash on items 'ranging from cheeseburgers to high-end
computers and gold'
Police
worked closely with the banking industry to identify many of those
involved and subsequently arrested them in March, April and September
2012, following a series of co-ordinated raids across London and the
West Midlands.
Abdelhamid and Jabeth admitted their
part in the scam but Oshodi denied two counts of conspiracy to defraud
and conspiracy to launder the proceeds of crime.
He was convicted by a jury following a trial.
Brothers
Shumail Butt, 21, and Shaharyar, 25, both formerly of Hounslow,
Middlesex, were both jailed for 12 months in August last year for their
part as 'mules' in the con.
They have both since been deported to Pakistan after admitting to being concerned in the acquisition of criminal property.
Fellow
mules included Chika Okala, 28, who admitted conspiracy to defraud,
while Sharna Eve, 20, and a youth who cannot be named, admitted being
concerned in the acquisition of criminal property
Jabeth, of Thamesmead, southeast
London; Oshodi, of Thamesmead, Okala, of Hackney, east London; Eve, of
Tilbury, Essex, together with the youth and Abdelhamid, are all facing
sentence at Southwark Crown Court.
Detective
Superintendent Charlie McMurdie said: 'This is an excellent example of
what can be achieved when police work together with industry to tackle
the top tier of cyber crime.
'In
this case the internet was used to allow disparate criminals to collude
regardless of global location, time zone or legal framework. The victim
of the crime was in South Africa while the suspects were in Egypt and
the UK.
'While the internet
can be a fantastic resource, it can also be used to commit old crimes
in new ways. It is important that internet users are alert to the risks
posed by the ingenuity of online criminals who seek to steal our money.'
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