Operation Alarm

A trio from Southport had confiscation orders to the value of £630,849 made against them at Liverpool Crown Court in June 2008.

This investigation commenced after a 63-year-old North Yorkshire woman alerted North Yorkshire County Council's Trading Standards and Regulatory Services to the scam, which then referred the case to NE RART dedicated money laundering investigation team. The subsequent enquiries identified over 150 victims across the country, some of whom lost over £40,000.

The orders obtained by the NE RART confiscation team followed the successful convictions of the defendants who were part of a team who conned over £1.8m from elderly and vulnerable victims throughout the country.

Their offences were facilitated by a salesman who used high-pressure sales to persuade elderly victims to part with thousands of pounds for air purifiers, dehumidifiers and maintenance contracts at vastly inflated prices initially gaining their trust by purporting to work for a security company with whom they already had contract.  Despite every effort being made, this salesman has not yet been identified.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Waite of NE RART said: "The victims were preyed upon and exploited by the criminals who took advantage of the fact that they were all elderly and vulnerable.  This is an excellent result which highlights what can be achieved by partnership working and maximising the opportunity presented by the Proceeds of Crime Act legislation to ensure that the criminals do not benefit from their despicable crimes.  The defendants in this case were not the frontline offenders but they performed an integral function and without their contribution the cheques could not have been converted into cash”.

A linked investigation into two other defendants based in Hull went to trial on 2 June 2008 and were both found guilty on 5 June 2008 and sentenced to three years each.  The confiscation hearing is set for later in the year and the estimated criminal benefit is £730,000