Crown Prosecution Service described it as a ‘particularly heinous scam’
A specialist London court has found Paul Seakens (60) and Luke Ryan (22) guilty of running a business for fraudulent purposes.
Seakens was also convicted of money laundering and proceeds of crime charges, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Sentencing will take place on 28 May.
1,000% mark up
The duo were directors of a company based in Winchester called Enviro Associates.
They sold voluntary emission reduction (VER) carbon credits to mostly vulnerable individuals via a boiler room operation.
The VERs were essentially worthless but sold at between 200-1,000% mark ups.
They were purchased via a London-based company owned by Seakens called CNI, for very small sums and then sold on.
SEVEN areas of Bradford ranked among the worst 30 areas of the UK for ‘crash for cash’ incidents, with two areas ranked in the top five. The BD7 area was fourth and BD3 the fifth worst-affected postcodes for ‘crash for cash’ scams, in which fraudsters invent or deliberately cause road traffic collisions, often involving innocent people, to try and get a compensation payout. Also making the top 30 list for the UK were BD15 (13th position), BD2 (22nd), BD5 (23rd) and BD9 (30th), as well as Heckmondwike (WF16 - 19th). The figures, compiled by the Insurance Fraud Bureau, found 170,000 claims which could be linked to suspected ‘crash for cash’ networks between October 2019 and December 2020.
[11/05/21] Police warn against criminals posing as police officers
Police warn against criminals posing as police officers
11 May 2021
Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Economic Crime Unit are warning the public to be extremely vigilant following reports of criminals posing as police officers.
Detective Chief Inspector Wilson said: “In an incident which was reported yesterday, Monday, 10 May, an older woman was contacted, by telephone, by a man purporting to be a police officer. He told her that she was being ‘scammed’ by people claiming to be from an internet provider, who had been taking money from her account. The alleged police officer told the victim that he would send someone to her house to collect belongings as they needed them for their investigation.
A police chief who’s retiring has been hailed as a “game-changing” champion of vulnerable and downtrodden people. After five years as North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, Arfon Jones decided to stand down at the election on May 6 although he will remain in post until the official handover to his successor six days later. Mr Jones, a former police inspector, was elected as the Plaid Cymru candidate in the 2016 poll, with a landslide 25,000 majority after campaigning for drug law reform and more action to tackle domestic abuse. The two issues were front and centre throughout his period of office which was extended by a year when the election originally due last year was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A RETIRING police chief has been hailed as a “game-changing” champion of vulnerable and downtrodden people. After five years as North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, Arfon Jones decided to stand down at the election on May 6 although he will remain in post until the official handover to his successor six days later. Mr Jones, a former police inspector, was elected as the Plaid Cymru candidate in the 2016 poll, with a landslide 25,000 majority after campaigning for drug law reform and more action to tackle domestic abuse. The two issues were front and centre throughout his period of office which was extended by a year when the election originally due last year was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.