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Two cousins received almost £10,000 in the post from elderly and vulnerable people who had fallen victim to a “mean and nasty” fraud.
Khaled Sarvari, 33, and Eymal Sarvari, 37, laundered the money while taking part in a “sophisticated and clever” operation to con a 91-year-old woman and another elderly man out of their life savings.
While the two men did not carry out the fraud Khaled Sarvari arranged for his cousin Eymal Sarvari to be the recipient of the funds, which were sent in the post via Royal Mail to an address in Queen Street, Barry. Luckily the fraud was reported to the police by the 91-year-old’s daughter and officers arranged to attend the delivery of the cash with a Royal Mail employee on May 23, 2019.
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A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court heard the first victim, a 91-year-old who lived in the Kent area, was contacted by a woman who claimed to be from BT contacting her regarding her internet hub.
The woman then received a call from a man purporting to be from the National Crime Agency who told her there had been a fraud attempt and they needed her help to catch the perpetrators.
They told the woman they had deposited £5,000 into her account, having taken control of her laptop, and asked her to withdraw the money in cash and send it to the address in Barry by post.
The woman went to her bank, withdrew the money, packaged it up, and went to the post office where she sent it out for delivery. She received a mail number which required the receiver to sign for the package.
Prosecutor Paul Hewitt said an elderly man had fallen victim to the same fraud and had also been asked to send £5,000 to the address in Queen Street, Barry.
When the woman victim told her daughter what had happened the police were contacted. Officers from South Wales Police took over the case and contacted Royal Mail who instructed an employee to conduct a “controlled delivery” at Queen Street with the police in attendance but not in view of the house occupier.
As the delivery was carried out Eymal Sarvari answered the door and agreed to sign for the package. When asked to supply the name the defendant complied and was subsequently arrested by police. When the package was searched it contained £40 short of £5,000. Eymal Sarvari’s phone was examined and a WhatsApp message was found relating to the female victim.
During Eymal Sarvari’s time in custody Khaled Sarvari attended the police to ask about his cousin. He provided his phone number to an officer and it was discovered to be the same number which had sent the message to Eymal Sarvari’s phone about the female victim.
Khaled Sarvari was arrested and an examination of his phone revealed conversations with another party about the fraud and referred to him asking his cousin to receive the money.
Eymal Sarvari, now of Phyllis Street, Barry, and Khaled Sarvari, of Wyndham Place, Riverside, Cardiff, pleaded guilty to entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement. The defendants were both of previous good character
In mitigation Heath Edwards, for Eymal Sarvari, said despite the defendant’s offences all the money involved in the fraud had been recovered.
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He added that Eymal was “one small part of a very big organisation” and his involvement amounted to providing an address where the sums could be sent to with the bulk of the money sent to those higher up in the organisation.
Mr Edwards also told the court Eymal was married father-of-three who employed 10 to 15 people in car washing business.
Stephen Thomas, for Khaled Sarvari, said there was no suggestion his client was involved in the fraud but he was now remorseful and regretted his involvement. The court heard he was employed as a taxi driver.
Sentencing, Judge Daniel Williams said: “This was a nasty and mean fraud which relies upon dishonest people to receive its proceeds.”
Khaled Sarvari was sentenced to nine months imprisonment suspended for 18 months and was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
Eymal Sarvari was sentenced to 26 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months and was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.
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