ï¿½45,000 Theft from bank to feed 419 Scammers.

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Wannabe Baiter Joined: 24 Jan 2007 Posts: 85

Just in from a local newspaper in the North West of England....

Bank worker Murtaza Shah stole more than ï¿½45,000 from his employers to meet the demands of Nigerian fraudsters.The 36-year-old, of London Road, Newcastle, was yesterday jailed for 16 months after admitting transferring tens of thousands of pounds between a number of bank accounts.

The customer adviser at the Newcastle branch of Barclays Bank defrauded the bank out of a total of ï¿½45,575.91 by creating false accounts and misusing accounts belonging to genuine customers.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that one customer's account was left with a deficit of ï¿½13,850. Prosecutor Nick Tatlow said: "There were a large number of transfers between the accounts as he tried to hide the theft from the bank. The total sum of money moved around was substantially more than the amount stolen."

The court heard one customer took out a loan, authorised by Shah, who cancelled the insurance and transferred the balance into his own company MDB Enterprises Limited.

He also set up an account under the name of Winston Williams, with an overdraft limit of ï¿½4,000. The following day ï¿½1,000 was transferred into it from another account he set up and he withdrew ï¿½5,000.

Shah used a former customer's details to open another account on November 17, 2005. He gave the account a ï¿½5,000 overdraft limit and four days later he transferred ï¿½4,400 to MDB.

On December 6, 2005, Shah set up a fictitious account with the name Larry Smith, of Shirley Road. He transferred ï¿½3,950 into the Winston Williams account.

His deceit continued with him changing the address of a genuine customer's account and carrying out a series of transfers and withdrawals throughout December and January. In total ï¿½18,095 was paid into his MDB account.

Shah was arrested on October 18 last year. He made a full admission. He told officers he was the victim of a scam from Nigerian fraudsters.

Shah pleaded guilty to the theft of ï¿½45,575.91 from Barclays Bank.

Sarah-jayne Buckingham, in mitigation, said he was the victim of a sophisticated fraud.

She added: "Nigerians approached him when he was selling cosmetics on a market stall. He was promised large profits. He gave them ï¿½10,000 but did not receive the items to sell. They made it plain he could not pull out. He was aware they had access to guns and knives. The demands for money kept coming."

Judge Granville Styler told Shah: "This was a gross breach of trust. You used your position to transfer money into accounts you could control. You got away with ï¿½45,000.

"I accept you became involved in this because you yourself had been subjected to fraud by Nigerian fraudsters."

Master Baiter Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 109

frankspencer970 wrote:

She added: "Nigerians approached him[snip]

"I accept you became involved in this because you yourself had been subjected to fraud by Nigerian fraudsters."

First line should be "scammers approached him". Second line their country origin should be ommitted. Irresponsible reporting.

That aside, another story for the "why you do this" collection. Poor guy.

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:55 pm

^^^ Assuming the quotes are accurate, why is it irresponsible? To alter a direct quote would be dishonest reporting.

Master Baiter Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 109

Because - IMO at least - they're indirectly labelling all Nigerians as scammers. The thing is, if I read it that way and I understand how the scams work, how will people who don't understand read it.
Also, if they were Welsh, I doubt they'd have put "Welsh people approached him with an offer".
"scammers" would have been perfectly sufficient, it's not necessary to include where they're based.

The judge's quote isn't so bad but I still find it unnecessary.

*** BANNED *** Joined: 02 Jan 2006 Posts: 2021

Suppose we better change our name then as 419 refers to Section 419 of the Nigerian Penal code. Rolling Eyes

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 5:23 pm

@johnny5, I take your point about painting all Nigerians with the same brush; my point is that it is not the reporting that is irresponsible if the quotes are accurate. Take issue if you like with the defense attorney and the judge, not the reporter.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was a journalist once upon a time and still bristle a bit when they get blamed for the world's ills. Not that there are some that don't deserve it, but this looks like a straightforward, accurate report. (Obviously I wasn't in the courtroom, just going on the way the story is written. It's not sensationalized and doesn't condemn anyone.)

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:52 pm

I agree with Ratter here. Irrsesponsible reporting would have been had he altered the quotes in any way.

Anyhoo...my 2 cents worth...I don't think 'Poor guy.' I think "What a bastard!" He was prepared to put other people into debt. He stole from other, innocent people.
After losing his $10,000, he should have gone to the police.
I realise that threats would have been made etc but any sensible person would know that the first thing you do is get help! (ie from the police)
And, if he was working in a bank in the first place, he wasn't Mr One brain cell now was he?

I hate these scum sucking scammer prix as much as the next baiter, but I honestly believe that the moment this arse began to steal from others, he became as bad as the original scammers.

Rant over. (Sorry...)

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