Two men have been sentenced after a £1m fraud in which letters from banks were intercepted and used to steal money from people’s accounts.
Muhammed Qayyum, 42, and Abdul Khan, 30, worked together on the scheme where victims had their post stolen and then banks were contacted to get the account details changed so funds could be transferred out.
Qayyum impersonated elderly men and women when he contacted the banks, eventually transferring money to accounts that he had set up.
The series of frauds, which took place between November 2020 and April 2023, also involved associates of Qayyum going to bank branches and impersonating victims with fake identity documents.
Inner London crown court sentenced Qayyum to five and a half years in prison. Khan was given a 12-month suspended sentence.
Fraud where post is intercepted has been on the rise. Losses from “card not received” fraud – where cards are intercepted before they arrive and used for spending – rose 39%, to £1.9m, in the first half of last year compared with the same period in 2023.
The two men were caught by the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit, a London police unit which is sponsored by the banking industry.
It is estimated that they stole £1,082,403 though the fraud. A spokesperson for UK Finance, the industry body, said it was not clear how they intercepted the post but it could have been through letter boxes, shared post boxes in blocks of flats or mail diversions.
After Qayyum took control of victims’ accounts and transferred money out of them, he would then launder it through cryptocurrency accounts that were controlled by Khan.
Qayyum was identified withdrawing money at different places across the UK, including London, while Khan was traced through the flow of funds to his accounts.
DCI Paul Curtis from the City of London police said the pair were identified through digital evidence which came from collaboration with the banks.
“Muhammed Qayyum and Abdul Khan worked together to manipulate bank staff and steal money from innocent customers,” he said.
UK Finance data shows that £29.3m was stolen through ID card theft in the first half of last year.
