Heckmondwike fraudsters who conned vulnerable people out of thousands of pounds jailed for more than 19 years

Mohammed Mansha Abbas, Mohammed Zulfqar Abbas, Mohammed Vaqaas Abbas and Imran Shan have today been sentenced at Leeds Crown Court to following a joint investigation by West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service and West Yorkshire Police.

Trading Standards first began an investigation into the activities of Bespoke Home Security Ltd and Bespoke Home Improvements Group Ltd in early 2015 following a number of complaints regarding their selling practices.

Mohammed Mansha Abbas was already a banned director. The Trading Standards investigation established that despite appearances to the contrary, he held a controlling interest in Bespoke Home Security Ltd and Bespoke Home Improvements Group Ltd in breach of this disqualification.

Victims of the fraud were initially cold-called by National Survey Line Ltd staff who had been provided with a series of dishonest scripts to be used during calls.

The victim would be told of rising crime rates and be scared into thinking there was a need for them to install security products.

If they agreed to a visit they were often visited the same day by a salesman from Bespoke Home Security Ltd.

The defendants each carried out the role of salesman.

They would stay in the victim’s home for several hours and use high-pressure selling tactics to encourage victims to take out a contract there and then for work that was often over-priced or unnecessary.

In several cases the victims believed they were receiving a government grant towards the price of the works but the grant did not exist and was merely a tactic used to encourage sales.

In some cases the defendants would take the victim to the bank to secure deposits.

A number of victims had loans taken out in their names to pay for works without their knowledge.

The defendants used an account in the name of a business associate to submit these online loans using false income details and email addresses which they had created and had access to.

Many of the victims did not have access to email, some had never even accessed the internet. Some victims were in receipt of pensions and benefits which meant they would never have been able to afford the loan repayments.

On one occasion the defendants even took a victim’s bank card details in order to make purchases themselves and set up online banking facilities in the victim’s name so as to be able to exercise control over the victim’s finances.

Warrants were executed initially in September 2016 at the business premises and home addresses of three of the defendants.

The companies were purporting to be based on the ground floor at Ridings House which was found to be operating as a call-centre.

A separate company 121 Legal Solutions Ltd of which Mohammed Vaqaas Abbas was the stated director was operating from the 1st floor in separate premises.

In March 2017 whilst enquiries were ongoing into the Trading Standards investigation, West Yorkshire Police began investigating after a report was taken at an address in Pontefract where the victim had complained that men posed as officials from a solar company, telling the victim he was due a refund.

The suspects then used a chip and pin machine with the victim’s bankcard.

The victim then realised that the suspects had not given a refund and had in fact taken £3,500 from his bank account.

In March 2017 Police arrested Munir and Mohammed Mansha Abbas.

This victim’s report led police to identify a further eight victims from all across the north of England, including Sheffield, Blackburn and Manchester.

Later, financial enquiries established payments between 121 Legal Solutions Ltd, Bespoke Home Security Ltd and the defendants.

Trading Standards obtained further warrants in August 2017 to include the 1st floor at Ridings House.

On execution it was identified that the 1st floor premises contained the management offices and all customer records for Bespoke Home Security Ltd and Bespoke Home Improvements Group Ltd. The business 121 Legal Solutions Ltd is believed to have been set up purely to allow the defendants an opportunity to operate without detection.

During the course of the police investigation an I-phone seized from Munir was examined

Victims were treated with disdain and mocked in a series of messages, videos and images shared between them.

In a series of chats on Whatsapp the defendants discussed those that they were targeting - ‘Perfect profile Single lady 89 years old Blind Disabled Alzheimer's’ and how they were doing it - ‘That was a great kidnap’ ….’taking people in your car against there will lol’…..’this will never get old lol’……’cancelled 20mins after he left the house’…..’lol’……’he said he forced me to do acts I didn’t want to to’….’hahahahaha’……’let me guess he’s been abused, another one of your victims Nas lol.’

A total of 28 victims were identified in the Trading Standards investigation who were predominantly elderly and/or vulnerable.

The full sentence details are as follows:

Mohammed Mansha ABBAS of Leeds Old Road, Heckmondwike pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to nine years. He was also banned as a director for a further 10 years.

Mohammed Zulfqar Abbas of Greenfields, Heckmondwike pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to four -and-a-half years. He was banned as a director for seven years.

Mohammed Vaqaas Abbas also of Greenfields, Heckmondwike pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to three years.

Imran Shan of Carr Manor Road, Leeds pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to three years.

Nasar Munir of Cottingley Road, Bradford pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to defraud and will next appear at Leeds Crown Court on March 17 2020.

In sentencing the defendants, His Honour Judge Stubbs QC said this was a sophisticated fraud where the defendants removed as much money from the victims as they could get. As illustrated by the “eloquent and powerful victim impact statements” this had a “longstanding and devastating impact on them”.

The Judge took into account the mitigation and testimonials received in relation to the defendants but said it was hard to accept that the defendants were feeling remorseful given the content of the seized I-phone.

Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 proceedings will now follow to recover the defendants’ benefit from criminal conduct and compensate their victims.