A gang that set up 90 bogus companies in a bid to steal more than £800,000 in a VAT and car finance fraud have been sentenced to more than 10 years.
Derby man Shahid Mohammad led the seven-strong gang in setting up front companies to facilitate the fraud which included a fake recruitment firm to steal identities. He has been jailed for six years and his co-defendants have been handed suspended prison sentences.
A joint investigation by HMRC, Derbyshire Police and West Midlands Police revealed the gang used 91 different stolen identities to submit claims between January 2015 and November 2016, pocketing £390,980.
The gang also used these fake firms to submit fraudulent VAT repayments totalling £80,716.
Ringleader Shahid Mohammad, 31, and five other men; Zahid Mohammad, 30, Mohammed Maroof, 28, Adnan Sharif, 43, Mohsan Hussain, 25, and Usman Sharif, 41, were convicted after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court which ended in March 2024.
Mark Robinson, Operational Lead at the HMRC Fraud Investigation Service, said: “Shahid Mohammad and his criminal gang caused utter misery for dozens of innocent people whose stolen details were used in this fraud.
“A huge amount of effort and planning went into committing these offences, which stole much needed money from our public services.
“We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to pursue the small minority who commit these types of crimes and we urge anyone with information about tax evasion to report it to HMRC online.”
The fraudsters set up a fake recruitment firm to steal identities and list people as directors of phony car dealerships without their knowledge. They then used the addresses of vacant premises across the Midlands for their fake dealerships.
Personal information stolen through the recruitment firm was used to record made-up vehicle sales and complete car finance agreements with lenders.
Once paid out by lenders, the money was transferred through several bank accounts and withdrawn in cash. These fake firms also made fraudulent VAT repayment claims. The gang tried to steal a further £144,500 in car finance and a further £233,160 in VAT, but these payments were withheld by HMRC.
Action to recover the money has been launched.
