A MAN from Bradford who helped fleece a woman out of more than £21,000 through an internet money laundering fraud had no idea of the distress he caused to the victim, a court heard.

Haris Shafique was said to have been involved in “a crass act of stupidity” when he allowed his bank account to be used to “recycle” money paid by the victim to another account in Nigeria.

When police eventually tracked him down for his money laundering activities, he was in Pakistan getting married.

He escaped an immediate prison term but was ordered to pay £5,000 in compensation.

How it unfolded...

Bradford Crown Court heard how, over almost three months between April 1 and June 24, 2020, the victim began communicating via a gaming app with a person known as John Richardson.

Prosecutor Olivia Fraser said the two spoke frequently and that Richardson claimed to live in the United States where he was “working as an admiral in the US Army”.

He suggested she download the Hangout app, described as the American equivalent of WhatsApp, and they continued to speak throughout April and May.

In June she received an email saying Richardson had come across a large amount of gold and was struggling to get it back to his military base undetected.

That was followed by an image of a large amount of American dollars, plus some nuggets of gold, with the message: “This is the gift I will be sending over to you.”

US dollars  (Image: Pixabay)

They then made plans for the package to be sent but the victim said she did not believe it would be sent or arrive to her.

Over the following days, she received emails from Roland Lindsay at a logistics company requiring £4,230 for shipping charges.

The victim transferred £1,630 via online banking to the details she had received in the email. The payee’s name was Haris Shafique.

The following day she sent a further £2,630 to the same account but received no acknowledgement.

The court heard that the money was then transferred immediately to an international account in an unknown location.

Miss Fraser said: “Throughout this time [the victim] remained in constant contact with both Roland Lindsay and John Richardson.

“She was told various things about there being issues with stamp duty and corrupt officers, which was delaying her shipment.

“She then received a further message saying that John Richardson would be court-martialled if she did not send more money as he did not have a licence for the gold.

“As a result of this on June 22 [the victim] made a further four online transfers to the same account as before, totalling £19,000.”

More emails arrived in her inbox in the name of Haris Shafique requesting a further £4,000 as Lindsay was being held in custody and money was needed to free him. No money was sent.

When she messaged John Richardson asking how he could live with himself his responses were said to be “oblivious” and that he knew nothing about the situation.

The police were then informed.

Email correspondence traced back to Nigeria 

The victim was then contacted by a “bounty hunter” named Jeff Derek who said he could recover her money and asked for a £4,000 fee.

The victim, who believed Jeff Derek and John Richardson to be one and the same, was then threatened with blackmail as the bounty hunter said he would inform her husband what she had done.

Police traced the email correspondence to Nigeria and found that the account into which the money was paid belonged to Shafique.

When contacted by his bank Shafique, of Hall Road, Bradford, initially said he knew nothing about the payments, but the bank said all transactions had been verified prior to money being deposited.

Shafique later said a friend living in London had asked him to accept the money into his account and send it onto them.

Miss Fraser said: “He did not challenge where the funds had come from or why his friend could not accept the payment into their personal account.”

She said there was also evidence of Shafique making online searches about UK money laundering accounts and the possible penalties involved.

Police who made arrest inquiries were told Shafique was in Pakistan until early 2021 but he did not return until September of that year when he was apprehended at Manchester Airport.

During an interview he could not provide “a rational explanation” for the funds entering his account.

Ordeal described as 'one big nightmare'

He later pleaded guilty to allowing his bank account to be used for laundering stolen money.

The victim described what had happened to her as “one big nightmare”. The total loss she suffered was put at £21,630.

Mitigating, James Holding said Shafique was of previous good character and that he had played a limited role under direction.

He said he had displayed traits of naivety and immaturity despite his age, and accepted that what was doing was wrong.

He said there was no evidence of him being involved at a higher level or receiving a financial reward.

Sentencing Shafique, His Honour Judge Colin Burn said he had played a part in “a quite sophisticated fraud” but accepted that he probably had little or no idea that the fraud involved threats.

However he added: “This was not just a question of suspecting that this was fraudulent but knowing that it was fraudulent.

“In terms of your involvement in the entire enterprise I accept that your role was limited to receiving money into your account, which you knew was the result of fraud, and then sending it on to an account that you had no connection with whatsoever in West Africa.

“You had no real knowledge of the anguish, pain and distress which was caused to a private individual as a result of your taking part in this fraud.

“The court is bound to treat this as being a crass act of stupidity.”

He sentenced Shafique to six months imprisonment suspended for 18 months, ordered him to pay compensation of £5,000, to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work, and to undertake five rehabilitation activity requirement days.