Terror probe uncovers £1m fraud scam targeting elderly and vulnerable

Jeremy Corbyn sent a letter supporting a bail application for one of those convicted

Mohamed Dahir, 23, was found guilty of conspiring to commit fraud (Metropolitan Police)

Nine men have been convicted for their part in an "industrial scale" scam which aimed to defraud elderly people across southern England of up to £1 million.

The group were caught after counter-terror police noticed large amounts of money being transferred to a bank account of an individual later found to have travelled to Syria.

Phoned by men pretending to be police officers investigating a fraud at their bank, the 18 victims - with an average age of 83 - were advised to transfer or hand over money for “safekeeping”. The scam was carried out between May 2014 and May 2015.

Mohamed Dahir, 23, was found guilty of conspiring to commit fraud. Following the verdict, his barrister, Patrick Harte, said that Labour leader and MP for Islington North Jeremy Corbyn had sent a letter supporting an earlier bail application in May for Dahir.

The letter said the defendant had “roots in the area” of Islington, according to Mr Harte.

Judge Anuja Dhir QC did not continue bail following the verdict.

Along with Dahir, 21-year-old Shakaria Aden and 23-year-old Yasser Abukar were found guilty of conspiring to commit fraud. Ibrahim Farah, 23, was cleared of the same charges.

Mohammed Abokar, 28, was convicted of converting criminal property.

The four defendants, all from north London, were remanded in custody ahead of sentencing due to take place next year. A date has not yet been fixed.

Five other defendants had already pleaded guilty to their involvement in the scam, including the 'ringleader' Makzhumi Abukar.

Police identified Makzhumi Abukar as the gang's ringleader (Met Police)

Commander Richard Walton, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “We uncovered this fraud after a separate terrorist investigation found suspicious payments into a bank account of an individual who is now believed to have travelled to Syria.”

On further investigation, police say they linked other members of the group to the suspicious payments, and uncovered 16 phone lines it was using to carry out fraud. Police say they found a total of 5,695 calls had been made to 3,774 different numbers across the country.

An image taken from Makzhumi Abukar's mobile phone of what's thought to be defrauded cash (Met Police)

“This callous group of criminals stole vast sums of money from extremely vulnerable and elderly people from across the country,” Commander Walton said.

“This was a scam on a huge national scale detected by specialist financial investigators who have stopped the targeting of even more victims. Our investigation remains ongoing and we will continue to arrest and prosecute anyone involved in this fraud.”

Police said they identified 140 offences, with £1 million defrauded or attempted to be defrauded from the victims.

During the trial, Kevin Dent, the prosecutor, said it was difficult to know how extensive the fraud was but at least £600,000 was taken from 18 victims.

Additional reporting by PA