A 24-year-old student from Swindon has been given a three year community order after being found guilty of money laundering.
Mohamed Sharif, of Marlowe Avenue, was given £250 to pass his bank details on to a gang who were running a sophisticated phone scam. This information was then used to set up nine new bank accounts in his name which received money from an unsuspecting victim in his 70s.
On Sunday 10th June 2018, the victim was called by a member of the gang who were pretending to be his bank, Nationwide. The number of his bank appeared on his caller display and it followed some previous dealings with the bank so this offered some reassurance. They told him their system was under attack from hackers and he needed to move his money into secure accounts to prevent them from getting to it.
Despite being initially sceptical, the victim was persuaded to make the transfers and, over a series of calls moved a total of £21,500 to 18 different accounts, 10 of them belonging to Sharif meaning £11,000 was transferred to accounts in his name (nine new accounts plus his original account).
The fraud was intercepted that afternoon by Nationwide’s Online Fraud Detection System and Nationwide managed to telephone the victim to break the bad news.
On that same afternoon, Sharif headed to London and made a number of withdrawals from cash points and Foreign Currency Exchanges totalling £13,592.26.
When he was arrested and interviewed on 22nd October 2018, Sharif claimed he met up with an old friend called Pasha in Reading. Pasha then suggested they go to London where they met with two of Pasha’s friends. One of the two claimed he needed a bank account to receive some money. Sharif stated he had no idea his account was being used to commit fraud but was asked to withdraw the money from various travel exchanges before handing it over. He denied receiving any payment and claimed he hadn’t seen Pasha or his friends since.
Within the trial Sharif had to admit that he had lied to the police, lied to the bank and lied within his defence statement for trial.
Detective Constable Rachael Fairbairn from Wiltshire Police’s Complex Fraud Team said, “This is a very sad case as the victim’s family say he was meticulous when it came to making sure his financial information was secure and would regularly shred any sensitive documents. They told me that the fraud caused him a lot of stress and they believe this was a contributory factor in his death a few months later.
“It’s caused them a huge amount of distress and they’re feeling the effects of those phone calls to this very day.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that Mohamed Sharif made some really stupid decisions here. He was studying for a finance degree and for the sake of £250, he’s lost any chance of working in that sector and it will take him years, if not decades to rebuild his credit rating and access to mainstream bank accounts.
“He tried to claim he had no idea that this was fraudulent but anyone with any sense would steer clear of this type of offer.
“His story should act as a warning because students are being targeted by these gangs. They think students don’t have much money and they don’t have the nous to say no. Our advice is simple – if someone offers you money in exchange for your bank details, don’t give them away. If you do, and you suspect your account is being used for fraud, then that is an offence of money laundering, even if you have no knowledge of or involvement in the original fraud.
“This type of crime is still taking place now. In fact, I saw a post on a Swindon social media group recently where someone talked about how they were nearly a victim of this scam and they were nearly caught out.”
At the sentencing hearing, Sharif said, “I feel bad. I feel disgusted. It was his life savings.”
Sharif was given a three year community order, which includes a 150-hour unpaid work requirement, and ordered to pay £85 to fund victim services.
