Zaheer Abbas, 40, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of fraud over a nine-month period between January and September 2023, committing mandate fraud by changing the payment details for a genuine business to a bank account controlled by him.

Abbas opened a bank account in the name of a fake company to impersonate a five-star luxury hotel in London to gain access to the hotel’s payment service and change its banking details to the fraudulent account he created.

To seem genuine, Abbas set up landline numbers complete with recorded greeting messages impersonating the hotel and his bank to mirror the genuine business’ switchboards. This meant that when the payment service contacted these numbers to verify the changes, they were tricked into talking to Abbas. Abbas also impersonated a solicitor to verify his identity on various false documents.

Once the bank account of the hotel was changed, Abbas was able to divert approximately £867,000 in funds from the hotel between the end of May and June 2023. The fraud was reported when the hotel did not receive expected money as usual.

Once Abbas received funds into his bank account, he transferred the money to various destinations, as well as paying for two years rent on a property and a new Audi.

Of the £867,299 stolen by Abbas, £657,404 has been recovered to be returned to the hotel.

Detective Constable Daniel Jordan at the DCPCU said:

Abbas used manipulation and deceit to steal a huge amount of money from a business. In doing so, Abbas put the business and its employees in a very harmful position with no care for the impact of such a serious crime.

Fortunately, we were able to identify him and put a stop to his criminal activity, after working closely with the banking and finance industry.

This sentencing should alarm anyone who believes they can benefit financially from committing fraud, showing that they will be caught and brought to justice.