AN INVESTMENT scam could have netted more than £1.2 million in loan payments from those who fell victim to it, a court heard.

Defendants James and Gillian Wheeler, from Church Lane, Ferryhill, County Durham, deny conspiracy to defraud between January 1, 2001 and December 15, 2014 and concealing criminal property by allowing money to be paid into their bank accounts and then transferred abroad.

Hundreds of people who joined a secret County Durham based membership club were promised wealth beyond their dreams if they invested in various opportunities.

But the prosecution say no investments were ever made and it was undoubtedly a fraud.

A trial at Teesside Crown Court was told that there were repeated appeals for cash - loans - to be sent through the post in order that money from ‘investments’ abroad could be released.

A list of loans with 356 names on it was discovered by investigators which detailed payments amounting to £1,227,355 between 2003 and 2011.

The cash was separate from deposits paid towards the investments so the actual figure lost could be much higher than the loans figure alone.

Detective Constable Helen Bell, of Durham Police, said it had been impossible for police to verify how much money had been handed over in total because of the lack of any consistent record keeping.

Giving evidence for the prosecution, DC Bell said the scam had to keep reinventing itself as those who signed up to it were constantly fed on “broken promises”.

The trial has heard how the fraud initially began as a pyramid or ‘Ponzi’ scheme, but by 2010 those involved were being offered commodities abroad to invest in.

Money went into and was paid out of a bank account belonging to ‘Ultimate Tan’, a sunbed business operated by James Wheeler.

Police also seized incriminating documents from a picture framing shop in Spennymoor managed by the defendants.

The trial continues.

:: Lawrence Wheeler, 71, of Ramsay Street, Tursdale, County Durham, who is James’ father, has already admitted fraud and is awaiting sentence at the conclusion of the trial.