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They are the biggest Birmingham fraudsters of 2019.
The rogue’s gallery includes a crooked couple who defrauded the Royal Mail by ‘washing’ used stamps and selling them on eBay.
Then there was the ‘crash for cash’ fraudsters who engineered a 50mph pile-up on the M6 in a bid to win an insurance payout.
Corrupt headteacher Michelle Hollingsworth was also jailed after fleecing a ‘deprived’ school of more than £500,000.
Then there were Birmingham brothers Calvin and Jared Ainsworth, who fled abroad after masterminding a £100,000 eBay sales scam.
Men, women and children of all ages were victims of the unscrupulous crooks who are all now serving time behind bars.
Below are their shocking crimes.
Birmingham hackers used malware virus to steal from victims online
(Image: Met Police)
Two Birmingham men were among fraudsters sentenced after they used computer hacking malware to steal tens of thousands of pounds from victims across the UK.
The sophisticated criminal group used malicious software to infiltrate computers, enabling them to access the bank accounts of individuals and businesses.
(Image: Met Police)
Usman Khan, 32, of Pershore Road, Birmingham, was jailed for four years and six months for his part in the scam.
Naveed Pasha, 56, of Wyndhurst Road,Birmingham, was jailed for two years, suspended for one year and nine months. He had admitted conspiracy to conceal/disguise/convert/transfer/remove criminal property.
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Romeo fraudsters conned women out of tens of thousands of pounds
Five smooth-talking fraudsters posing as jet-setting businessmen scammed women looking for love out of thousands of pounds.
The five – including ringleader Eric Ocansey from Birmingham – hid behind the false personas of ‘Kevin Churchill’ and ‘Kevin Thompson’.
The gang posed as wealthy businessmen with international lifestyles to target women in a bid to persuade them of their genuine romantic interest.
Ocansey, 35, was among the five jailed at Guildford Crown Court back in August.
He was sentenced to two years imprisonment for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, plus 14 months for money laundering to run concurrently.
Nicholas Adade, 23, from Stoke on Trent, was sentenced to three years and seven months for conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and money laundering.
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Corrupt head fleeced primary school out of more than £500,000
Corrupt head Michelle Hollingsworth was jailed after she swindled a ‘deprived’ school out of more than £500,000.
She syphoned off cash from Annie Lennard Primary in The Oval, Smethwick, over five years.
The 55-year-old, who had been at the school for 29 years, was jailed for five-and-a-half years.
Hollingsworth, who lives in a £1million home in Cannock, bought everything from expensive designer clothes to antique furniture with her ill-gotten gains.
She was also involved in a previous bizarre accident claim where she ay down in front of a car being driven by millionaire neighbour George Homer.
“I was gobsmacked,” Mr Homer said.
“I was stationary when she stood in front of the car, looked right and left, then just threw herself to the floor,” he claimed.
“She was groaning ‘My arm is broken’.
“I wasn’t stressed because I knew I hadn’t done anything.”
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Couple defrauded Royal Mail by washing used stamps and selling them on eBay
(Image: Birmingham Mail)
Husband and wife Dean and Wendy Baker were both jailed for two years after they “washed” used stamps and sold them on eBay.
They ran the scam from their home in Sheldon for five years and caused a potential loss to Royal Mail of more than £400,000.
The couple pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud, possessing articles for use in fraud, adapting an article for fraud and supplying an article for fraud.
The court heard they had started buying used first and second class stamps in bulk in July 2013.
They came from charities and other organisations and were only normally of interest to stamp collectors, who were looking for unusual or rare stamps.
The vast majority of the sales were to businesses and traders and there were multiple and repeat purchases.
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Birmingham woman used a fake visa scam to bring people into the UK
Shamaila Musarat was part of a gang who operated a fake spouse visa scam to bring people into the UK.
Musarat, of Farcroft Grove, Handsworth, was among six fraudsters who abused the spouse visa route system.
Musarat was a key member of the Yorkshire-based crime group, and was arrested in March 2018 after a two-year investigation by Immigration Enforcement’s Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI) team.
Musarat, 23, was jailed for 11 months for conspiracy to facilitate unlawful immigration to the UK.
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Crooked brothers masterminded £100,000-plus eBay sales scam
Two crooked brothers fled abroad after masterminding a £100,000-plus eBay sales scam – leaving a trail of devastated victims in their wake.
Calvin and Jared Ainsworth roped in unsuspecting stooges to sell cut-price items on their own accounts.
But the items were never delivered and the pair trousered the profits.
The pair blew the cash on gambling in casinos and business class trips to the Philippines – and fled back there as the net closed in.
Calvin, 26, was arrested at a flat the pair shared in Great Colmore Street, near Birmingham city centre, in September 2015 but skipped bail and returned to the Philippines, where his 31-year-old brother later joined him.
Both were returned to the UK earlier this year. Calvin admitted 35 counts of fraud by false representation and was jailed for five years and seven months.
Jared was jailed for three years and four months after he admitted three counts of money laundering and possessing a Taser.
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Crooked accountant lived luxury lifestyle after £400k VAT scam
Rakesh Sidhpara lived a luxury lifestyle after creaming more than £400,000 from an audacious VAT scam.
Sidhpara, of Wheatmoor Road, Sutton Coldfield, claimed more than 100 fraudulent repayments through hijacked businesses and fake firms.
He used the cash to buy his sprawling Birmingham home, lease an expensive Mercedes and take “dozens” of holidays, including trips to Las Vegas, Mexico, India and Dubai.
When his crimes were rumbled Sidhpara and his wife, Ritu, fled the country. She later returned and was jailed for money laundering offences.
But Sidhpara stayed in Cyprus and tried to delay his own trial in September 2018 by sending the UK authorities a forged five-page medical report, which claimed he could not attend because of kidney stones.
He was jailed for five-and-a-half years in December 2018 and also admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice at a later hearing on February 28, and was sentenced to an extra year in prison.
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Callous fraudster conned elderly people out of thousands of pounds
(Image: Paul Beard / SWNS)
Crooked businessman Hassan Akhtar Qaumi – described as a “slick and ruthless fraudster” – conned elderly people out of almost £36,000.
He then used their hard-earned cash to fund his lavish lifestyle.
He was the sole director of HQ Energy and cold-called homes of vulnerable residents in the West Midlands, claiming they needed new or replacement solar panels, radiators or boilers – when in most cases they did not.
The 28-year-old, of Lynton Avenue, Wolverhampton, would take payment up front for these products but failed to supply them.
He also overcharged some of his victims for products that were of no benefit to them – and frittered away the thousands he stole on entertainment, buying clothes, meals out and gambling.
He was jailed for four and half years.
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Restaurant owner Nazrul Islam carried out a £480,000 tax fraud
(Image: HMRC)
Nazrul Ismam hid sales from his restaurant in a bid to evade nearly £480,000 of tax payments.
The 52-year-old’s underhand dealings were discovered when investigators searched his home and uncovered a hidden sales book that dated back five years.
Islam was arrested in April 2017, following an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Islam’s home in Great Barr and his Jaipur restaurant in High Street, Repton, Derbyshire, were both subsequently searched.
It was at his house that HMRC officers seized £22,170 in cash, hidden behind a large marble wardrobe and has since been forfeited.
Officers also found meticulous records of Islam’s daily takings between 2012 and 2017 in a hidden accounting book.
The number of sales did not match up to those he submitted in his VAT returns.
He was sentenced to three years in May this year. He was also disqualified from being a director of a company for seven years.
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Fraudsters carried out ‘cash for cash’ fraud after faking M6 pile-up
Three Birmingham ‘crash for cash’ fraudsters engineered a 50mph pile-up on the M6 in a bid to win an insurance payout.
Dashcam footage showed an innocent driver slam into the back of a car on a motorway slip road in Coventry after driver Mohammed Azam, 47, slammed on the brakes.
He and his two accomplices, Husnain Ahmed, 22 and 25-year-old Sufyan Lone, all then put in personal claims for whiplash worth more than £28,000.
But they were rumbled when dashcam footage from the driver targeted in the scam was viewed by insurer Hastings Direct and triggered a police investigation.
And all three admitted one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation at Birmingham Crown Court .
Azam, of Gannow Gardens, Rubery, and Ahmed, of Bennetts Road, Saltley, were each jailed for 25 months. Lone, of Malthouse Lane, Great Barr was jailed for 20 months.
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