Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The former manager of a Nottingham city centre chicken shop was jailed after securing £50,000 in Covid support, despite having sold the business the previous year. Mujeebullah Khan applied for the maximum-value Bounce Back Loan on behalf of Chunky Chicken in May 2020. However, Khan and his business partner had sold the business based on Shakespeare…
Read more
A Derby businessman who used Covid support scheme funds on online trading platforms has been jailed. Temidola Ojelabi secured £80,000 across two Bounce Back Loan applications for Platinum Gates Limited in 2020 when businesses were only entitled to a single loan. Money from the loans was then used on online trading platforms when it should…
Read more
Taxpayers lost £10.9 billion to fraud and error as the previous government’s pandemic response left the front door open to fraud, an independent commissioner report has found. The Covid Counter Fraud Commissioner, Tom Hayhoe’s, final report to Parliament finds many schemes – including Bounce Back Loans and Eat Out to Help Out – were rolled…
Read more
A music producer who falsified bank statements to convince a finance provider to lend his company £150,000 and fabricated invoices to HMRC has been disqualified for the maximum term of 15 years. Felix Milton dramatically misrepresented the financial position of his company, The Nameless Ltd, by millions of pounds in obtaining the loan in the autumn of 2021. Earlier that year, the company secured…
Read more
A company claiming to provide financial services, which received around £175,000 from a client but failed to deliver promised services, has been shut down. Basic Prime Limited claimed to provide trade finance guarantees and credit enhancement services but was suspected by Insolvency Service investigators of operating an advance fee fraud scheme. The company at no…
Read more
Businesses, charities and other high-value bank account holders are being targeted by fraudsters using software to steal tens of thousands of pounds with the amount stolen from some individual accounts exceeding £1 million, according to new research from the Cyber Defence Alliance (CDA) and Cifas. The scam begins with a phone call and ends with…
Read more
The boss of a property maintenance company who lied about his turnover to secure a maximum-value Covid Bounce Back Loan has been jailed. Craig Smith set up C.A.S. Property Maintenance (Midlands) Limited in April 2020. The 42-year-old applied for a Covid Bounce Back Loan in August 2020 using his own name as the loans were…
Read more
Two key enablers of a scheme designed to undermine insolvency legislation by allowing business owners to keep their assets and drop debts have been banned as company directors. Sisters Karen Mortimer and Joanna Seawright put the creditors of 138 companies at risk of financial loss after taking control of the businesses which were referred to…
Read more
A bankrupt builder who persuaded a customer to pay him more than £30,000 for home improvements he never completed has been sentenced. Wayne Miller deliberately concealed his status as a bankrupt from his victim and abandoned the building project in Canterbury when it was nowhere near finished. He also promised to repay the customer for…
Read more
RSM UK is urging businesses to be fully prepared for a cyber-attack, as recent figures from the NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) show a worrying rise in ‘nationally significant’ cyber incidents. These attacks, which can cause significant business disruption and financial loss for businesses and consumers, have more than doubled already this year. Cyber-attacks are…
Read more
The boss of a glazing firm who fraudulently applied for two Covid Bounce Back loans and spent significant sums on gambling and crypto investments has received a sentence of 22 months in custody, suspended for two years. Just months into the pandemic, Haralombos Ioannou secured two maximum-value £50,000 Bounce Back Loans when businesses were only…
Read more
A Covid fraudster who bought a house in Huddersfield using Bounce Back Loan funds has been jailed. Mohammed Rashidzadeh appointed solicitors to help him buy a three-bedroom semi-detached house in the Almondbury area of the town just two days after receiving the £50,000 loan in June 2020. The 34-year-old also attempted to strike his Cozy…
Read more
A tour operator has been jailed after securing two maximum-value £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loans when businesses were only entitled to one. Raja Imtiaz fraudulently applied for a second Bounce Back Loan on behalf of Al Fayroz Travel & Tourism Limited in the summer of 2020, just two weeks after securing another £50,000 loan for…
Read more