 |
| See them, DISGRACE all of them. |
Five Nigerians have been sentenced to various jail terms by an
Inner London Crown Court over the theft of £610,000 from business bank
accounts.
According
to reports, Victor Oke, 39, of Galleons Drive, Barking, used stolen data
provided by Desmond Uyiosa Abifade, 25, of Henniker Road, Stratford, to falsely
impersonate company directors via telephone banking.
Once Oke
gained access, he diverted funds to ‘mule’ beneficiary accounts monitored by
Moses Kuye, 28, of Connaught Road, Silvertown.
Melinda
Mensah-Oke, 37, also of Galleons Drive, impersonated company directors when a
female voice was necessary, while Arinola Kuye, 27, also of Connaught Road, acted
as the group’s money launderer.
They were
caught after being spotted by fraud investigators at HSBC, who passed the case
to the dedicated card and payment crime unit (DCPCU) to investigate, Punch
reports.
The DCPCU
is sponsored by the banking industry and made up of officers from the City of
London Police and the Metropolitan Police Service, bank investigators and
support staff from UK Finance.
Police were
able to analyse when and where the calls were made to identify the phones used
and from there, the perpetrators.
All five
were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, which
they pleaded not guilty to.
On
Wednesday, Oke was sentenced to four years in prison, while Moses Kuye was
jailed for three years and three months.
Mensah-Oke
received a fourteen month suspended sentence and Abifade a two year suspended
sentence.
Arinola
Kuye was given a 12-month community order and instructed to complete 50 hours
of unpaid work.
DC Dave
Cass, who investigated the case for the DCPCU said: “This was a concerted
effort to commit fraud against two companies and profit from crime.
“The police
take fraud very seriously and these sentences should send a message to
fraudsters that you will be caught and punished.”
All losses
were refunded to the genuine business account holders.
0 Comments
DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions expressed on this platform as comments were freely made by each person under his or her own volition or responsibility and were neither suggested nor dictated by the owners of Precious Eze's Blog or any of their contracted staff. So we take no liability whatsoever for such comments.
Please take note!