Man jailed for fraud car sales

A FRAUD posing as a car salesman has been jailed for nine years by a UK court for duping more than 200 unsuspecting car buyers out of more than £1 million.

Ravinder Singh Randhawa, 30, was jailed last Friday (16) for 22 offences of fraud and one offence of money laundering at Exeter Crown Court.

According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Randhawa was the leader of a fake carselling operation where he posed as a legitimate salesman and conned victims to pay large sums of money for second-hand vehicles.

“Randhawa is a prolific and serial offender, preying on trusting members of the public simply wishing to buy second-hand cars. His crimes were sophisticated,” Sarah Melo, specialist prosecutor for the CPS specialist fraud division.

“He often used identities obtained from previous victims, hijacked the identity of garages and genuine vehicles for sale, so that his victims did not suspect his scam,” Melo said, adding that Randhawa made hundreds of people suffer by making them lose money. Many of them even had mental and physical effects as they suffered the losses when the ongoing pandemic had already left their life in a shambles.

“Many described the severe effect on their mental and physical health, their family relationships and overall financial stability. For many, this happened at a time when their lives were affected by the pandemic,” she said.

Those assisting Randhawa – Atif Shariff, 30, and Jason Gilbert, 55 – were sentenced to 20 months and 27 months of imprisonment, respectively. Melo said the CPS worked with Devonshire and Cornwall Police to bring the offenders to justice.