MEMBERS of a gang, which hijacked mobile phones to defraud Vodafone customers of £2.8 million by making calls to premium rate numbers, have been jailed.
The four men obtained customer details from data management firms and then linked mobile numbers to SIM cards in their possession by posing as legitimate account holders.
They used the cards to repeatedly make calls to premium rate lines they had purchased, with connection charges of about £2.50 each time.
About 1500 accounts were hijacked, costing Vodafone in excess of £1 million.
One victim received a bill for £80,000 and thought she would have to sell her home to repay it, Blackfriars Crown Court in south London heard.
The gang was given a total of 11 years and five months in prison for conspiracy to defraud.
Kaleem Hussain, 30, from Maynard Road in Rotherham, was jailed for 38 months after pleading guilty to his role in the scam.
Nadeem Ali, 26, from Clifton Lane in Rotherham, got 21 months, Waseem Rashid, 26, also from Clifton Lane, got 30 months and Imran Rasab, 35, from Hooton Road in Mexborough, south Yorks, received a four year sentence for his role after being found guilty
Passing sentence, judge Henry Blacksell, QC, said their plot had the appearance of being "cavalier and sophisticated".
He said: "The billed losses to the respective customers amounted to some £2.8m, but as anyone who understands the fraud knows, the losses suffered by the providers in this case amount to somewhere in excess of £1m."
All four men smiled at their relatives in the public gallery when they were taken down.
Speaking outside court, Detective Constable Mark Wootton said that the offences were "definitely not victimless".
He said: "Normal, everyday members of the public ...lost service with their mobile phones for a significant time and they received massive bills through the post."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article