Man jailed for nine years for courier fraud offences

Two men have been sentenced for courier fraud offences, with one man jailed for nine years.

25 year old Zayd Saheb of Somerleyton Road, London and Zakariye Mohamed 24 years old and of Elms Cresent in London were both sentenced on Friday 28 March at Ipswich Crown Court.

Saheb (pictured above) was sentenced to nine years in prison and Mohamed was given a suspended sentence of 14 months, suspended for 18 months.

It follows their guilty pleas to all counts at an earlier hearing on 29 February 2024 for Mohamed and Saheb on 23 May 2024.

Saheb pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, possessing articles for use in fraud, committing fraud by false representation, possessing ketamine with intent to supply.  Mohamed pleaded guilty to committing fraud by false representation

In the first incident that took place on an elderly couple in Diss on 24 October 2023. The female victim, aged in her 70s, received a telephone call from a male stating that he was a police officer and that a family member had been arrested with £4000 in his person. This has set off a chain of telephone calls with another male saying he was detective and that he needed their help in a fraud investigation that required her and her husband to withdraw money from their bank accounts.

The victims withdrew £8000 from three separate bank accounts and then were asked by the officer to take it to London. The victim refused and arranged another officer to come to their address to take pictures of the money and record serial numbers. A male purporting to be an officer attended and then stole the cash that has been placed on the dining table and left. This cash was not recovered.

In the second incident in Southwold in mid-November 2023 a woman in her 80s took a call from people impersonating police officers and claiming her bank accounts had been defrauded.

Over a two-week period the victim was convinced into handing over her bank cards and PIN numbers, which led to large sums being withdrawn. Police were notified of the activity on Tuesday 28 November and two days later, on 30 November, Saheb was arrested.

Fraudulent cash withdraws were made, while a large amount of money in the region of £37,000 was transferred to a fraudulent account and she purchased gold bars (4 x 1kg gold bars) worth in excess of £210,400 which were collected by the couriers. She was led to believe it was being taken to a secure location and returned to her at a later date – the gold bullion has never been recovered.

The fraudsters remained in contact with the victim and persuaded her to make another purchase of gold (6 x 1kg gold bars) for the price of £316,000. The victim’s daughter checked her mother’s bank accounts and saw the large scale movement of funds and alerted police. When they the gold was due for collection by the fraudster on 30 November, police arrested Saheb on suspicion of fraud.  Mohamed was arrested at a later date after police found evidence on mobile phones linked to Saheb indicating his involvement with Mohamed in the earlier Diss fraud.

To prevent more people from falling victim to this fraud, Suffolk police are urging members of the public to remind friends and family that banks and the police will never ask someone for their PIN number, to withdraw money or purchase items, or to hand valuables to a courier.

DC Dan Steel from the Serious Crime Disruption Team said: “Courier fraud is a cruel and despicable crime and is a growing problem nationally, targeting predominantly elderly and vulnerable people, in these cases a couple aged in their 70s and 80s and a woman aged in her 80s.

“In both cases the offenders Saheb and Mohamed callously exploited the vulnerabilities of the victims for their own greed.

“I would urge people who receive calls asking for money to be withdrawn and handed over to a courier to not disclose any personal or financial details. If you have any doubt, no matter how small, stop, hang up and wait 10 minutes to ensure that the call has disconnected before reporting it to police.

“We will continue to relentlessly pursue those who seek to scam unsuspecting people and exploit their trust.”

If a police officer needs to speak to you on the phone, they'll identify themselves clearly. They will never: 

• ask you for your bank details or PIN
• ask you to transfer funds to another account
• ask you to hand over cash or bank cards to a courier
• ask you to pay a fine or a fee to them or a third party over the phone or online
• ask you for access to your computer, passwords or log on details over the phone or online
• ask you to register personal details in an attachment or website online
• ask you to 'assist' in an investigation by doing any of the above
• state that you are committing a crime by not complying
• communicate in an abusive, threatening or coercive manner