Jailed for 41 years

Six men who swindled more than £200,000 from elderly victims across the country – including six from the Humberside area – have been jailed for a total of 41 years.

Leeds Crown Court heard the scam saw them cold calling their vulnerable victims, claiming to be police officers investigating reports their bank accounts had been targeted by criminals.

They then asked their victims to call their bank or another police department to verify their claims.

However, the original call was not disconnected and the victim was instead unwittingly still speaking to the fraudster, who convinced them to withdraw large sums of cash and hand it over to a courier.

Detectives investigating the fraud discovered the gang – who were based in London and Essex – had targeted at least 97 victims (25 from Humberside) from ‘almost every policing region’ in the UK. Thirty three (including six in Humberside) lost money.

Jailed – Justice for elderly victims targeted by gang

Milad Ahmed, 22, of Tower Hamlets – who was said to be the head of the organised gang – was jailed for 11 years.

Joynal Miah, 29, of Tower Hamlets, was jailed for 10 years and six months; Kevin Bokanga, 22, of Beckton, for five years; Juber Alom, 31, of Beckton, for six years and six months; Sabir Uddin, 23, of Illford, Essex, for five years and six months and Mahbub Aziz, 21, of Tower Hamlets, for two years and six months.

The men were caught following a joint operation by the Regional Organised Crime Units for Yorkshire and the Humber and the South East, alongside the North East Region Special Operations Unit.

Welcoming the sentence, Detective Inspector Jack Walker, of the Yorkshire and Humber ROCU, said: “We hope this will demonstrate to criminals that they will find no hiding place and we will go wherever we need to get justice for the victims.

“These fraudsters preyed on some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, targeting them in a sophisticated criminal network.”