Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ROOFLESS COWBOYS TAKE £870K IN SCAM
Homeowners targeted by a cowboy building firm were left without a roof when they refused to pay even more money to the crooks.
The scam began with a mixture of unannounced visits and phone cold calling. Watchdogs were alerted after two residents in Harrow, North London, aged 84 and 86, were conned out of £350,000.
Trading standards officers discovered more victims in other London boroughs who were bullied into paying for work that was not necessary and either carried out poorly or not at all.
A total of £870,000 was taken from six victims in just seven months from September 2017, with £150,000 eventually being recovered by the banks.
The ringleader was Harpreet Singh Randhawa, 44, from Hillingdon, Greater London, who is now starting a five-year sentence for conspiracy to defraud.
He was the director of Randhawa Roofing Ltd, which was the centre of an international money-laundering operation with victims’ money being transferred from the UK to Dubai, China and Singapore.
“Their behaviour was motivated by greed, they had no interest in completing the works or didn’t care about the immense stress they caused their victims and families,” said Simon Legg, Head of Brent and Harrow Trading Standards.
“Cases like this emphasise the importance of not agreeing work with tradespeople who cold call and to do your research before commencing any work.”
As the investigation mushroomed, the National Trading Standards ecrime team was called in to help.
Mobile phones, laptops and diaries recovered from raids provided crucial evidence, as did prosecution witnesses including building surveyors and a forensic accountant.
Besides Randhawa, three accomplices were sentenced followed unanimous guilty verdicts after a six-week trial at Harrow Crown Court.
Harinder Singh Arora, 44, also from Hillingdon, got two years and six months for conspiracy to defraud.
Mahmoddun Nobi Siddique, 42, from Ilford, East London, got six years for money laundering.
Vytautas Glinskas, 33, from Romford, East London, got four-and-a-half years for money laundering.
Lord Toby Harris, Chair of National Trading Standards, said: “These criminals preyed on vulnerable consumers to fund their web of organised crimes, in some cases leaving victims without life savings, and I hope these sentences bring some sense of justice to the victims involved.
“What began as an investigation into local doorstep crime quickly became a more expansive joint initiative between local and national trading standards officers to tackle an international money laundering operation.”