Fri, 8 Nov 2013

Four fraudsters are in custody on Friday afternoon awaiting sentence after they were convicted for their part in a £1m scam involving fictitious Harrods jobs posted on Gumtree.

The four men Ajibola Akinlabi, Olalekan Awosile, Tyrone Ellis, and Damilare Oduwole, all from South London, were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud after a two-month trial at the Old Bailey. Following the verdict, they were remanded in custody prior to sentencing on 14 November.

Babatunde Akinlabi, the brother of Ajibola Akinlabi, was acquitted of the Gumtree fraud. However, he pleaded guilty to a lesser fraud that occurred before the Gumtree fraud, and is due to be sentenced on 6 December.

The judge, his honour Judge Kramer, told Babatunde Akinlabi: “All sentencing options will be open to me on 6 December.”

Another defendant, Adimolo Araoye, had also pleaded guilty to the Gumtree fraud.

The criminals targeted innocent people looking for work on internet sites such as Gumtree and Blue Arrow by posting bogus job adverts for companies including Harrods and Argos.
 
Respondents to the fake adverts were sent a hyperlink via email asking them to complete an online application form. Those who clicked the link inadvertently downloaded the computer malware which recorded their keystrokes, capturing their private financial and personal data, and transmitting it back to the criminal gang.
 
The group were also involved with postal intercepts. They used the illegally obtained personal data to phone banks claiming to have lost their credit/debit card. They would request a new pin number and credit card, and wait outside the victim’s address where they would intercept the postman before he posted the letters.
 
They also defrauded the emergency cash systems of several banks. They contacted banks and provided the illegally obtained security passwords, at which point the bank issued them with a special code so they could obtain £60 from cashpoint machines.
 
One of the group, Nadine Windley, also pleaded guilty to using her position as an employee of Santander Bank to provide the others with customer account data.

Detective Sergeant Frank Tutty from the National Crime Agency told Recruiter: “I am delighted with the verdict after a long investigation.”