8 Portsmouth men to be sentenced for complex fraud investigation

On Monday 17 February, eight people will be sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court in relation to a complex fraud investigation.

The sentencing will take place over three days, and centres on a period of offending in which members of an organised crime group in Portsmouth created fraudulent call and email diversions in relation to in excess of 2,000 BT customers, in an elaborate scam.

As a consequence of obtaining the identities of the BT customers, they were able to purchase high value goods via PayPal or by using the bank details of the customers.

Officers from Hampshire Constabulary’s Economic Crime Unit launched an investigation which spanned more than two years of offending and identified £358,345 in losses – but the full extent of the fraud is expected to be much higher.