Car fraud carried out with ‘striking incompetence’

A BUNGLING conman from Oldham who was duped into a scheme to “steal” two high-powered cars worth more than £46,000 was told by a Crown Court judge that he had behaved in an “utterly naive and stupid” fashion.

Father-of-four Mohammed Rahiees (36) agreed to be the front man in the scam, in which he took out hire purchase agreements to buy a £15,000 BMW from a dealership in Warrington, then six days later a £30,000 Audi A5 from another business in Blackburn.

In both cases he had paid a cash deposit before producing false bank details in order to get credit.

However, he gave his legitimate driving licence details, so that when no repayments were made it was easy for police to trace him.

Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court was told that Rahiees, of Melling Road, had been tempted into getting involved in the scam by the prospect of easy money.

Sentencing him, Recorder Mark Ford told him: “It seems to me that your common sense went out of the window, and your greed got the better of you.”

He said the frauds had been carried out with a “striking incompetence” and told him: “I am prepared to accept that you have to a degree been the subject of manipulation by others.”

He told Rahiees, who has earned a living as a taxi driver, that he had been persuaded because of the circumstances to suspend a 10-month prison sentence for two years. He also ordered him to carry out 150 hours unpaid work in the community.

Kate Hammond, prosecuting, had told the court that on July 21, 2010,p Rahiees had gone into the dealership in Warrington, paid a deposit of £300 and agreed to pay a total of almost £21,000 for the £15,299 BMW car on hire purchase. He claimed to work as a manager for Tesco and the credit was approved on that basis. Six days later he went into Blackburn Audi where he put down a £1,000 deposit on a red Audi A5 and agreed to take out finance.

Ms Hammond said in both cases two other men had accompanied him to the car dealers while he negotiated the purchase of the cars.

Rahiees, who pleaded guilty to two offences of fraud, had been told that if he effectively bought the cars, they would be passed to others who would hire them out. He was told he would receive sufficient money to pay the hire purchase fees, with profit on top.

Ms Hammond said that both vehicles were subsequently recovered, but the total loss claimed as a result of the fraud was estimated at in excess of £60,000 because finance companies had been cheated out of interest.

Robert Smith, defending, said it was clearly an “amateurish” scheme and his client had been persuaded into taking part by others who had never been caught.