Nimisha Bhadaria, 29 has been given a 14-month prison term and ordered to pay $5,140 within three months by Woolwich Crown Court for money laundering. Nimisha from Stanmore, is one in the gang of ten fraudsters who tricked people of £1.7m by making them change a direct debit, standing order or bank transfer mandate by pretending to be a representative from an organisation. The money was withdrawn as large amounts of untraceable cash from branches or cash machines.
The victims, both individuals and companies span across the UK, Nigeria, Mauritius, Switzerland, France and the United States.
Detective Sergeant Kevin Jackson of the Metropolitan Police's criminal finance team said: “ Members of the public and organisations need to be very careful when moving and transferring money. Many of the victims linked to this case were tricked into sending money to criminals' accounts after they were sent a spoof email with change of payments details.
"Always verify changes to financial arrangements with the organisation or person directly on the phone, or go via the company's main switchboard to check if an email is genuine.”
"Trust your instincts and always check before transferring the money, because it will be extremely difficult to recover once you’ve sent it."