Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
A disqualified company director has been jailed for running a football magazine business while banned. Yorkshire businessman Peter Etherington was the man behind Professional Player, described on social media as ‘a luxury lifestyle magazine’ read exclusively by professional footballers and their families. Etherington admitted acting as a director of the company which produced the magazine,…
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A director has been sentenced after fraudulently inflating his company’s turnover to secure Covid support, which he used to pay off his personal debts. Faruk Chowdhury falsely claimed his company had a turnover of £150,000 and that the Bounce Back Loan would be used for legitimate business purposes. Chowdhury’s company, Learn & Earn Ltd, showed…
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A fourth company director has been disqualified for their role in a scheme involving unauthorised banking transactions worth almost £14 million. Daryl Dylan allowed unarranged overdrafts with Barclays Bank to be used to make transfers of more than £1.6 million from the accounts of Oldcocdt Ltd and Oldcostl Ltd in 2021. Most of the transfers…
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A bogus care recruitment company that swindled overseas workers out of more than £19,000 by charging for visa sponsorship services it could not legally provide has been shut down. Medrecruiter Limited claimed to have nearly 6,000 carers on its books and be active in more than 500 care homes across the UK. In reality, Insolvency…
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A fraudster who illegally obtained five Covid loans at the height of the pandemic has been jailed. Cardiff-based Rupali Wagh fraudulently applied for £216,250 in Bounce Back Loans for her four companies between May and September 2020. The 50-year-old inflated the turnover of her businesses to secure the loans and used some of the funds…
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A criminal from Preston has been sentenced at Manchester Crown Court to six years in prison after pleading guilty to a series of fraud offences, including making purchases using stolen cards, gaining unauthorised access to someone’s online account, and intercepting parcels. The sentencing follows an investigation and arrest by a specialist, banking-industry-sponsored police unit, the…
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Fraud rates within Open Banking payments remain below wider UK payments industry benchmarks as adoption of Open Banking continues to grow, according to the first edition of the Open Banking Payments & Fraud Monitor, published today by Open Banking Limited (OBL). Drawing on data from account providers representing more than 60% of Open Banking payment…
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A Wolverhampton director has been sentenced for fraud and money laundering after pocketing £30,000 in Covid loans he was not entitled to. Sohail Cheema falsely declared his company’s turnover was £60,000 when applying to two separate banks for £15,000 Bounce Back Loans in 2020. His business, Sohail Cheema Limited, set up for him to gain…
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HMRC used Home Office travel data in an innovative attempt to address a major driver of fraud and error in Child Benefit, which totals £270 million annually, but it lacked sufficient governance and risk management and did not consider the impact on claimants, a new National Audit Office (NAO) report finds. In 2021, HMRC identified…
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The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined KRA Consultancy Ltd (KRA) £300,000 after it targeted people who were already in financial difficulty with unlawful spam texts – including fake bailiff messages. The Manchester-based company sent 5,575,715 unsolicited direct marketing texts between April 2022 and May 2025, promoting debt solutions to people who had already been…
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A banned company director who spent £300,000 of Covid support on family holidays, private school fees, and other personal spending has been jailed. Steven Brookes used funds from six fraudulently obtained Bounce Back Loans to pay for a trip to Disneyland, a holiday rental in Tenerife, and an Audi with personalised number plates for his wife. The 40-year-old also paid £7,000…
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UK Finance’s latest Annual Fraud Report shows its members reported that criminals stole £1.28 billion through payment fraud in 2025, an increase of four per cent, demonstrating how fraud continues to operate on an industrial scale and is a national security threat. The report also shows that most authorised push payment (APP) fraud cases still…
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As part of the joint regulatory taskforce, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned customers to be wary of misleading car finance ‘money tips’ adverts issued by claims management companies (CMCs) and law firms on social media. The taskforce has identified a growing number of adverts that appear to offer independent advice from an individual but…
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