- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Radhakrishna N S
A PAKISTANI-origin man convicted in the UK’s biggest ever cyber fraud case is now facing a confiscation hearing in a British court.
The mastermind in the vishing scam, Feezan Hameed Choudhary, 28, was jailed for 11 years in 2016.
Choudhary spent millions on shopping, wild parties with pop stars, and luxurious leisure activities, Southwark Crown Court heard.
The fraudster and his gang members had tricked 750 RBS and Lloyds customers out of a total of £113m.
Now, the British Asian has been dragged back to the court for a confiscation hearing and the legal proceeding is yet to complete.
Choudhary had benefited from a sum of £19m of the money the scam yielded.
Edward Franklin, prosecuting was quoted in the Daily Mail: “Of that £19m we conclude that £14.8m is recoverable.”
He told the court that it was up to the defendant to prove that he did not have the money.
Muhammad Azhar, another convicted in the scam who proved to be a main, credible witness during the trial.
According to Azhar, Choudhary managed to get up to £1.5m a month during the scam.
Franklin said: “If Azhar is right the defendant could have received around £17 million in the period of the indictment alone.” But added the total benefit was estimated to be £19 million.
It is average of £500,000 – £1.5m for 34 months between January 2013 and October 2015.
Choudhary had transferred the money to the bank accounts in Pakistan and purchased a villa with live-in chefs and servants.
The gang had legitimate bank, telephone numbers to cheat the victims easily.
Choudhary was detained when he was trying to board a flight from Paris to Pakistan with a fake passport in 2015 and later handed-over to British authorities for legal proceedings.
