EIGHT men have been jailed, including a magistrate from Bradford, for their part in a plot to defraud Western Union, providers of money transfer services throughout the UK and worldwide.

Leeds Crown Court heard the fraudsters tricked Western Union outlets into providing security identification details by making phone calls to them pretending to be from the firm’s IT department.

The callers used two different methods to do this, either by suggesting there was a problem with their software or saying that all agents must now be computer enabled and that that they would need to receive certain software.

In either case the agent was conned into providing their unique security details or into making transactions which they were told were only tests but turned out to really transfer funds.

Simon Kealey, prosecuting, told the court today in the cases where security details were provided they were then used to make fraudulent transfers.

During a three month period 18 UK-based and two South African Western Union money transfer agents were contacted by phone and 229 fraudulent transactions completed with £275,000 paid out.

Ringleaders of the fraud were Noor Khan and Adam Caan, who were based in Rochdale but they were helped with inside information about the system by a Western Union agent Tariq Hussain, a magistrate and co-owner of Travel Money Affairs, in Barkerend Road, Bradford.

Mr Kealey said it was the Crown’s case Hussain provided an outlet for 24 transactions valued at £20,000 as well as useful information.

Others before the court were involved in collecting the money. Of the 276 transactions collected in the UK, 112 were in Bradford and Leeds, 76 were around Manchester and 19 in the South East of England.

Jailing the eight Judge James Spencer QC said: “It was a well-planned and considered fraud that you carried out which required some preparation and some research and some inside information as to the systems in force.”

“It was well-executed and carried out over a protracted period, something like three months. Agencies in this country were compromised as well as South Africa and agencies used to collect the money were not only in this country but Pakistan.”

Noor Khan, 39 of Maple Street, Rochdale, who was extradited from Ireland to face prosecution, admitted conspiracy to defraud and was jailed for four years and five months.

Adam Caan, 36 of Heights Avenue, Rochdale, who also admitted conspiracy was jailed for four years and six months.

Tariq Hussain, 51, of Barkerend Road, Bradford was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to defraud and jailed for four years

The judge told him: “A great deal was made of your good character and role in the community and your duties as a magistrate yet while that was the case you were also engaging in this conspiracy.”

His case was also aggravated by the fact he was an agent and therefore involved a breach of trust.

Mohammed Nawaz Khan, 43 of Bangla Walk, Bradford, who was also found guilty of conspiracy by the jury was jailed for three years; Ladislav Jakab, 35 of Bowling Old Lane, West Bowling, Bradford, and Csaba Lukacs, 42 of Moorside Road, Eccleshill, Bradford, who each admitted conspiracy were both jailed for 32 months.

Waseem Raja Zaman, 27, of South Firswood, Manchester, found guilty of conspiracy was jailed for two years and Marek Kaso, 42 of Regent Court, Bradford, also convicted by the jury of conspiracy to defraud was sentenced to two years minus 51 days he spent in custody awaiting extradition from Slovakia.

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