Fraudsters caught after border police raided their Manchester office fronting a bogus claims management firm

Six fraudsters caught by border police have been jailed after conning solicitors of almost £150,000 by making up collisons.

The fraudsters office at Beetham Tower in Manchester City Centre was raided in April 2009 by United Kingdom Borders Agency (UKBA), as part of an operation to combat illegal immigration.

Greater Manchester fraud police were informed and they found the fraudsters were running a bogus company called North West Claims.

North West Claims was set up as a claims management company that would handle personal injury claims following car accidents.

The cases would be referred to solicitors firms to progress, and the solicitors would need to pay a fee to the claims management company.

However, all the collisions were made up.

The defendants went to considerable effort to make solicitors believe their activities were legal - company branding was set up, the company was registered and a website was also launched.

There was also evidence that the enterprise was run professionally with wall charts identifying law firms and spreadsheets that kept a record of which firms had been canvassed.

However, detectives also found equipment which made fake passports, documentation and National Insurance numbers, which suggested the claimants were made up people.

The collisions in question had been completely fabricated.

This comes as a result of a two year long joint operation involving Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB).

The following three people pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud at Manchester Crown Court, Crown Square:

  • Irfan Manzoor, 34, of HMP Manchester, and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
  • Javaid Hussain Shah, 31, of Carrgreen Close, Manchester, and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
  • Amjad Hussain, 34, of Baycroft Grove, Northern Moor, and was sentenced 12 months in prison.

The following three were found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud following a trial:

  • Safdar Ali, 34, of Dunley Close, Belle Vue was jailed for four years.
  • Vahida Iqbal, 32, of Bamford Street, Oldham was jailed for two years.
  • Kadija Nasser Ahmed, 21, of Outwood Road, Heald Green was jailed for 15 months.

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