Library conman sentenced
to nine years
A Scottish based fraudster has
today (16 Nov) been sentenced to nine years in prison at
Croydon Crown Court for a four year campaign of complex frauds
committed using a pay as you go mobile phone, fake accents,
and a library card.
These frauds saw the theft of more than £8 million
pounds and the attempted theft of a further 170 million dollars,
from UK high street banks.
Frageand Naseem, 32, from Livingston, near Edinburgh, telephoned
international companies and duped staff into giving him small bits
of information. This continued through many calls and across many
months. Once he had gleaned enough details Naseem took over control
of corporate accounts and arranged to transfer money around the
world and set his family up in business.
In sentencing Judge Stowe stated that Naseem had been responsible
for a highly sophisticated fraud and had also held up court
proceedings while feigning mental illness.
Speaking after the verdict Superintendent Colin
Cowan from the City of London Police said:
“I am very pleased to see the level of sentence given to
Naseem. It shows once again that fraud is a serious crime with
serious consequences.”
Naseem was so convincing with his use of a range of accents and
his persistent nature that he conned staff in several banks into
believing he was calling from the client company. He was also known
to call back and laugh at them down the phone once he had stolen
the funds.But despite his millions Naseem was found to have a
relatively moderate lifestyle. He lived in a five bedroom detached
house in Livingston and leased a Range Rover.
The City of London Police arrested Naseem in Edinburgh in April
2006 following an extensive operation.
He was traced to an Internet café, which had been identified by
police as the source of a number of emails relating to the frauds.
When searched he was found in possession of a mobile phone that had
been used to contact another bank he was targeting, and a notebook
containing contact details for the bank’s staff.
His downfall came about because he made two key mistakes: he
couldn't resist calling his mum from his criminal phone and he used
his library card to access an Internet cafe. Following his arrest,
Naseem was transferred to London where after charge he was remanded
in custody before later being moved to a secure psychiatric
hospital.
He pleaded guilty to five offences of obtaining money transfers by
deception, defrauding £8.2 million from national and international
banks.At earlier proceedings the court also heard how Naseem had
instructed RBS' foreign currency traders to use the Bank of Korea's
sterling account to buy $170 million on the markets for its dollar
account.He enquired about moving the funds on, but discovered they
had to remain in trading accounts. This gave RBS time to uncover
the fraud and reclaim the money.The alarm was raised by an employee
of a Japanese bank (Bank of Yokohoma), who became suspicious of his
requests for information about their RBS account. City of London
Police, who were already investigating Naseem, were alerted on
April 6 2006 and a full-scale investigation began with police
working closely with the banks.
Detective Superintendent Colin Cowan, from the
City of London Police Economic Crime Directorate, said:
“This investigation is a great example of the police in both
Scotland and London working together with the banks to share
information quickly, combine resources and take swift action. It is
thanks to the teams in all of these groups that we have secured
such a good convictions.”