Phone crooks get combined 11 years in jail
An organised crime group that defrauded major phone companies has been jailed after a Hampshire resident alerted the police.
Four people who pled guilty to defrauding Vodafone, EE, O2 and the Carphone Warehouse out of £429,304 have been jailed for a combined total of 11 years at Portsmouth Crown Court.
The offences came to light when a Hampshire resident told police that between Friday, February 14 2020 and Wednesday, February 19 2020, four mobile phone accounts had been opened up in his name without his permission or knowledge.
EE contracts had been taken out in the Fareham and Waterlooville Carphone Warehouse stores and phones where also taken out in O2 and Vodafone stores.
Hampshire police then contacted EE, who discovered the resident’s details had been used for a series of frauds.
Operation Waterspout was set up as a Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary investigation into the Organised Crime Group, who were involved in high-value commercial fraud.
The fraudsters used stolen personal details of existing customers from all over England and Wales to take out new phone contracts and obtain expensive mobile phones and similar items such as Apple Watches and iPads.
The sentences were as follows: Oluwadamilola Bolaji, 32, of Black Eagle Drive in Gravesend, Kent, admitted his part in the fraud conspiracy to the value of £145,000. He has been jailed for six years and three months.
Taofeeq Balogun, 30, of no fixed address in Basingstoke, admitted his part in the fraud conspiracy to the value of £25,000. He has been jailed for three years.
Taiwo Agusto, 43, of Osbourne Road in Dartford, Kent, admitted his part in the fraud conspiracy to the value of £3,000. He has been jailed for one year and nine months.
Carriba Johnson, 31, of Nelson Square in Southwark, London, also admitted her part in the fraud conspiracy to the value of £2,500. She has been given a suspended sentence of 24 months’ imprisonment.
The Organised Crime Group were involved in high-value commercial fraud