Three fraudsters who targeted vulnerable victims in a courier scam will learn what funds can be recovered from them in a crime proceeds settlement hearing, in June.
Paul Brown, Adam Rankin and Irfan Yousaf, all from the west of Scotland, were each jailed at Durham Crown Court last August for a crime in which they conned an estimated £60,000 from County Durham victims, while posing as fraud investigators.
One victim was drained of savings for him and his sister, who has learning disabilities, and for whom he has power of attorney over her affairs.
The defendants claimed to be conducting Fraud Squad inquiries into suspected financial crimes and urged their victims to transfer money into supposed “safe” accounts.
It followed a customer having been contacted by someone claiming to be from the Fraud Squad, trying to persuade him to transfer funds into a bank account, which, due to his suspicions, he chose to ignore.
Further inquiries revealed an elderly victim, in Crook, received calls from May to late August 2021 also claiming to be from the Fraud Squad.
He was persuaded to write a cheque for £22,942 to a gold bullion supplier, but it was returned as the transaction was suspected to be fraudulent.
The victim was further persuaded to write two more cheques which were left on the doorstep of his home in Crook and collected in the early hours of July 21 and August 4, 2021.
Brown was said to have collected those cheques, having been driven by Yousaf, who then returned to Scotland.
When those cheques cleared, days later, Rankin and Yousaf travelled south again from Scotland to both Sheffield and Manchester, to withdraw large quantities of the deposited funds.
The court was told that of the £22,944 paid in from the first cheque, £20,000 was withdrawn in cash by Rankin, while some of the rest was transferred to another account.
The second cheque deposited was for £24,910, of which £21,490 was withdrawn in cash, while £2,000 was transferred to another account and the remainder left in the original account was spent.
A payment made attempting to buy £5,100 in cryptocurrency was rejected, while a £10,000 loan was also taken out in the victim’s name by an unknown person.
Another victim received a call in July 2021 claiming to be from the Fraud Squad.
She was told to transfer £9,500 to the same business account but the payment did not go through as she had insufficient funds, so she was persuaded to make smaller payment into Rankin’s personal bank account, instead.
The court was told that of the £1,500 successfully paid, some of it was used by Rankin and the remainder was withdrawn.
Yousaf was arrested in March 2022 and accepted having driven Brown to County Durham but denied knowing Rankin or having knowledge of the offences.
Rankin was arrested in July 2022 and made no comment to police questions.
Brown, who was already under suspicion of similar activities in Scotland, acted as the “courier”, collecting both cheques, and accompanied Rankin on trips to withdraw the cash.
He said Yousaf was also a “courier”, travelling to collect the cheques and he also acted as a point of contact for Brown.
The total amount involved in the offences for both victims, including those which failed to yield money, was £60,116.
One victim said he felt “stupid and ashamed” by what happened, given he has power of attorney for his sister’s affairs.
He said he no longer trusts anyone on the phone and, “lives on the edge”, feeling under stress.
When withdrawing cash from ATMs he said he always looks over his shoulder in case someone is watching.
He said all his bank savings were emptied and the court heard that at that stage (last August) it was not thought he had been reimbursed by the bank.
The victim added that he now struggles to keep his head, “above water”, financially, having had to take out a bank loan.
Meanwhile, the other victim said she was left “traumatised” at being targeted and tried to put a “mental block” on the events of July 2021.
Twenty-eight-year-old Brown, care/of HMP Gateside, in Greenock, admitted conspiracy to commit fraud by misrepresentation and concealing criminal property, relating to some of the money made from the offence.
But both 41-year-old Yousaf, of Darnley Road, Glasgow, and Rankin, 33, of Mary Fisher Crescent, Dumbarton, were found guilty of the fraud offence, which both denied, following a four-day trial earlier in August.
The court was told any sentence imposed in the English jurisdiction would be served alongside those imposed in Scotland.
Judge Jo Kidd imposed four-year prison sentences upon both Brown and Rankin, and one of 42 months (three-and-a-half years) on Yousaf.
She said all three took part in, “acts of extreme dishonesty where vulnerable people were deliberately targeted”.
The judge said the victims have suffered, “serious detrimental effects, both financially, emotionally and psychologically.”
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Proceeds of crime inquiries were set in motion to see what assets the defendants have to meet potential confiscation and compensation orders.
All appeared via video link from their respective prisons, two in Scotland, one in England, for a “mention” last Friday (February 28), when a date for a final hearing, of up to half-a-day in duration, was agreed.
All were remanded to remain in prison to be produced at the court for the settlement hearing, on June 19.
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