Old Bailey £1m fake Harrods jobs ‘scam’ case to last six weeks
18 September 2013
A case at the Old Bailey, in which six people are on trial in connection with an alleged £1m job ‘scam’ involving fictitious jobs at Harrods, is expected to last six weeks, Recruiter has learned.
Wed, 18 Sep 2013A case at the Old Bailey, in which six people are on trial in connection with an alleged £1m job ‘scam’ involving fictitious jobs at Harrods, is expected to last six weeks, Recruiter has learned.
The trial, which began on 9 September, heard testimony that jobseekers allegedly lost more than £1m to fraudsters, who the prosecution alleges posted fictitious jobs at the prestigious London store on Gumtree.
A Gumtree spokesperson tells Recruiter that it has since taken steps to stop the type of scam alleged in this case from happening.
The court heard how jobseekers were sent emails purporting to come from a recruitment agency, along with application packs to download and fill in. However, the prosecution claims that in doing so they downloaded software, which allowed the fraudsters to steal their log-in details, giving them access to the jobseekers’ bank accounts.
The gang was alleged to have hired ‘mules’ to withdraw money from the jobs applicants’ accounts, with the result that they lost up to £4.7k each.
The alleged scam was said to have begun in August 2010, before being discovered by Harrods.
The Old Bailey heard that the software used to infect the jobseeker’s computer was written by so-called IT whizzkid Tyrone Ellis, one of six people, all from South London. All defendants deny conspiracy to defraud, and the case continues.
Harrods had not responded to recruiter.co.uk’s request for comment by press deadlines today.
The trial, which began on 9 September, heard testimony that jobseekers allegedly lost more than £1m to fraudsters, who the prosecution alleges posted fictitious jobs at the prestigious London store on Gumtree.
A Gumtree spokesperson tells Recruiter that it has since taken steps to stop the type of scam alleged in this case from happening.
The court heard how jobseekers were sent emails purporting to come from a recruitment agency, along with application packs to download and fill in. However, the prosecution claims that in doing so they downloaded software, which allowed the fraudsters to steal their log-in details, giving them access to the jobseekers’ bank accounts.
The gang was alleged to have hired ‘mules’ to withdraw money from the jobs applicants’ accounts, with the result that they lost up to £4.7k each.
The alleged scam was said to have begun in August 2010, before being discovered by Harrods.
The Old Bailey heard that the software used to infect the jobseeker’s computer was written by so-called IT whizzkid Tyrone Ellis, one of six people, all from South London. All defendants deny conspiracy to defraud, and the case continues.
Harrods had not responded to recruiter.co.uk’s request for comment by press deadlines today.
