A man from the West Midlands is among three individuals found guilty of a large-scale fraud operation that left a business with losses of £650,000.
Umar Farook, aged 37, from Widney Lane, Solihull, was found guilty of money laundering in connection with the fraud operation. The other two men previously pleaded guilty to their roles.
Farook was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday 17 April.
Co-conspirators pleaded guilty earlier
Last month, Amreek Singh, 57, from Woodside Drive, Scunthorpe, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Earlier this month, Gurvinder Sundher, 39, from Tolchard Close, Leicester, also pleaded guilty to the same charges.
The trio worked together with others in a sophisticated scheme to fraudulently acquire and launder more than £650,000.
Fraudulent recruitment firms
The operation involved setting up two fraudulent recruitment firms. Those behind the scheme sought financial support from a finance company and managed to obtain over £650,000 in funding. Initially, small repayments were made, but the vast majority of the money was never returned.
In August 2020, the finance company discovered they had been defrauded. West Midlands Police's Economic Crime Unit launched an investigation, and detectives found that the group never intended to repay the borrowed funds.
The stolen money was moved through multiple bank accounts under different names and references to obscure its origin and make tracing difficult.
Detective Constable Edward Spokes, from the Economic Crime Unit, said: “Once the finance company discovered they were victims of fraud and invoices for repayment were being ignored, they contacted West Midlands Police. Thankfully, our Economic Crime Unit was able to follow the trail and identify several of those involved, and they have now been brought to justice.”
The men will be sentenced at a later date.
