Pair sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court for courier fraud offences with man, 25, jailed for nine years
Two people have been sentenced for courier fraud offences with a man jailed for nine years.
Zayd Saheb, 25, of Somerleyton Road, London, and Zakariye Mohamed, 24, of Elms Crescent, London, were both sentenced today at Ipswich Crown Court.
Saheb was sentenced to nine years in prison and Mohamed was given a suspended jail sentence of 14 months, suspended for 18 months.
It follows their guilty pleas to all counts at an earlier hearing.
Saheb pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, possessing articles for use in fraud, committing fraud by false representation, possessing ketamine with intent to supply.
Mohamed pleaded guilty to committing fraud by false representation
The first incident happened in Diss on October 24, 2023, and involved an elderly couple.
The female victim, aged in her 70s, received a telephone call from a male stating that he was a police officer and that a family member had been arrested with £4000 on his person.
This set off a chain of telephone calls with another male saying he was a detective and that he needed their help in a fraud investigation that required her and her husband to withdraw money from their bank accounts.
The victims withdrew £8000 from three separate bank accounts and then were asked by the officer to take it to London.
The victim refused and arranged another officer to come to their address to take pictures of the money and record serial numbers.
A male pretending to be an officer attended and then stole the cash that had been placed on the dining table and left. This cash was not recovered.
In a second incident in Southwold in mid-November 2023, a woman in her 80s took a call from people impersonating police officers and claiming her bank accounts had been defrauded.
Over a two-week period, the victim was convinced into handing over her bank cards and PIN numbers, which led to large sums being withdrawn.
Police were notified of the activity on November 28 and two days later, Saheb was arrested.
Fraudulent cash withdrawals were made, while a large amount of money in the region of £37,000 was transferred to a fraudulent account and she purchased gold bars (4 x 1kg gold bars) worth in excess of £210,400 which were collected by the couriers.
She was led to believe it was being taken to a secure location and returned to her at a later date – the gold bullion has never been recovered.
The fraudsters remained in contact with the victim and persuaded her to make another purchase of gold (6 x 1kg gold bars) for the price of £316,000.
The victim’s daughter checked her mother’s bank accounts and saw the large scale movement of funds and alerted police.
When the gold was due for collection by the fraudster on November 30, police arrested Saheb on suspicion of fraud.
Mohamed was arrested at a later date after police found evidence on mobile phones linked to Saheb indicating his involvement with Mohamed for the earlier fraud in Diss.
Suffolk Police are urging members of the public to remind friends and family that banks and the police will never ask someone for their PIN number, to withdraw money or purchase items, or to hand valuables to a courier.
DC Dan Steel from the Serious Crime Disruption Team said: “Courier fraud is a cruel and despicable crime and is a growing problem nationally, targeting predominantly elderly and vulnerable people, in these cases a couple aged in their 70s and 80s and a woman aged in her 80s.
“In both cases the offenders Saheb and Mohamed callously exploited the vulnerabilities of the victims for their own greed.
“I would urge people who receive calls asking for money to be withdrawn and handed over to a courier to not disclose any personal or financial details.
“If you have any doubt, no matter how small, stop, hang up and wait 10 minutes to ensure that the call has disconnected before reporting it to police.
DC Steel added officers will continue to relentlessly pursue those who seek to scam unsuspecting people and exploit their trust.
