Car scam fraudsters jailed

Three fraudsters who worked out of offices in Newhey, Rochdale have been jailed.

John Owen, of Kitson Hill Road, Mirfield, Yorkshire and Abdul Wahid Qadir of Fifth Avenue, Bolton were jailed for 27 months after admitting conspiracy to defraud.

Sahir Ashraf of Delaunays Road, Crumpsall was jailed for 18 months after admitting to concealing the proceeds of crime. He also pleaded guilty to five unrelated fraud offences.

It is understood, a man named Quddus was the brains behind the operation. He was arrested but skipped bail and is now thought to be hiding abroad.

The men conned people in an elaborate car scam which involved people leasing cars from a company called Synergy Manchester in 2012.

Altogether there were 45 victims of the scam with each victim losing an average of £1,500 to £2,000. A taxi firm lost £9,000 after paying a deposit to lease ten cars.

The company was run from ‘professional looking’ offices in Newhey as well as a ‘virtual’ office in Manchester. A company website was also created as well as business cards and brochures showing off the cars that customers believed could be leased.

Bolton Crown Court heard how customers were conned into paying huge deposits to lease top of the range cars which failed to arrive. Then when the victims tried to contact the company to complain, they found that the phone lines were dead.

The scam was timed so that the victims expected the cars to be delivered two days after the company had shut down and the men had fled with the money.

Owen acted as the sales manager for the company and travelled the country pitching deals to customers after they had been cold called by workers at the firm. Qadir was the office manager working alongside Owen.

Ashraf was the ‘office junior’ and ‘trusted assistant’ but had worked closely with Quddus and was with him when significant cash withdrawals were made.

All three men used false names to avoid detection and used those names in front of innocent workers at the firm. It is understood that the firm had started out as a legitimate company.