Abdul Shahid jailed for £192,000 fraud

Abdul Shahid

A man who fraudulently set up direct debits using business bank account to pay for subscriptions to adult television channels among other services has been jailed.

Abdul Shahid (23/10/1979), of Clara Gorton Court, Rochdale - who has previous convictions for fraud and dishonesty - admitted seven counts of fraud by false representation and one theft.

At Minshull Street Crown Court today, Friday 20 December 2013, he was sentenced to a total of three years in prison.

Shahid was a tenant of Guinness Northern Counties Housing Association, a national housing association, providing more than 60,000 homes across the country.

Shahid is unemployed and was in receipt of benefits when he managed to obtain the bank details of his landlord Guinness Northern Counties and set up a series of direct debits.

Subscription to paid television services, including adult channels, were among the services he paid for using the direct debits. He also paid off debts, bought goods from a catalogue and paid phone bills.

He also managed to get the bank details of Telefonica (O2) and started paying his rent to Guinness Northern Counties through their bank account.

In addition he posed as a door-to-door salesman for Sky television and BT.

He would gain cash payments from unsuspecting customers and then pay for their phone lines and satellite television using other fraudulently set-up direct debit accounts.

Many of the people he duped spoke little English and were left to find that within weeks their services had been switched off and Shahid was uncontactable.

The total value of the fraud was £192,000.

As part of an unconnected fraud investigation Shahid's passport was seized from him when he was released on bail. One of the charges of fraud relates to an application he made to the passport service requesting a new document, claiming to have lost his original.

When he was arrested he was found in possession of the passport he had obtained by fraudulent means. He also had a Bangladesh visa and Emirate business class tickets. It is believed he was in the process of fleeing the UK to avoid prosecution.

Pc Sarah Langley, from the Volume Fraud Team, said: "Shahid has effectively used these bank accounts as his own over a period of several months.

"He has been able to pay for goods and services worth tens of thousands of pounds and the cost to the businesses involved is considerable.

"His history of offending proves he is dishonest to the bone and he clearly has no qualms about ripping off unsuspecting people and organisations.

"This was a complex fraud and demonstrates that he is clearly an extremely intelligent person and it is just a shame he has channelled these talents into criminality."