A TEAM of international fraudsters who stole £113 million in online banking scams have been jailed for more than 27 years.

The crew of nine criminals, featuring Bilal Ahmed, 27, of Wellwood Road, Ilford, and Mohammed Mehtab, 35, of Westwick Place, Watford, were sentenced to prison in Southwark Crown Court today (September 21).

Between January 2013 and October 2015 the fraudsters took £113 million from over 750 victims, of which £47 million has been recovered.

Detectives believe most of the outstanding £66 million has been laundered from the UK to Dubai and Pakistan.

In many cases victims were defrauded of hundreds of thousands of pounds, with several businesses nearly going bankrupt as a result.

One victim alone was defrauded of over £2 million.

Led by Feezan Hameed, 25, from Glasgow, and his brother Nouman Chaudhary, 21, the cash hungry criminals used sophisticated ‘social engineering’ techniques to persuade businesses to reveal their internet banking details.

Hameed would cold call victims pretending to be from their bank’s fraud department and using various aliases, he was able to dupe customers into revealing online account information.

This allowed him and his associates, based around the country, to access hundreds of online business accounts and steal vast sums of money.

A further three bank employees were also recruited to the corrupt gang, supplying customers’ account details and helping them launder the money.

Using the banking details, the gang would log into the account and transfer large amounts of cash from the victim’s account into ‘mule accounts’ under the gang’s control.

These sums would be quickly siphoned through the banking system into further mule accounts before being withdrawn in cash from ATMs and bank branches around the UK, often within hours of the original fraud.

The money was then used to finance the gang’s luxury lifestyle, both in the UK and in Pakistan.

The nine fraudsters are:

Feezan Hameed, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to conceal, disguise, convert transfer and remove criminal property. He was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment.

Syed Haider, 31, of Heswell Gardens, Slough pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to launder money and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

Bushra Shabab, 30, of Heswell Gardens, Slough pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and was sentenced to two years, suspended for two years.

Nouman Chaudhary, of Albert Road, Glasgow pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years’ imprisonment.

Bilal Ahmed, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and was sentenced to three years and four months’ imprisonment.

Mohammed Mehtab, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and was sentenced to eight months, suspended for two years.

Abdul Iqbal, 23, of Mountcastle Crescent, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to money launder and was sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment.

Syed Ali Amish, 24, of Pomfret Avenue, Luton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and was sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment.

Mohammed Azhar, 38, of Rivington Apartments, Railway Terrace, Slough, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to launder money and was sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment.

Waqar Aslam and Mohammed Akram were found not guilty of conspiracy to launder money on September 9.

The investigation was led by the Met’s Fraud and Linked Crime Online (FALCON) Taskforce, and supported by 16 police forces across the UK, including West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester Police and Police Scotland.

Head of FALCON’s Taskforce, detective chief inspector Andrew Gould said: "This was the largest covert proactive operation the Met has ever undertaken against cyber-enabled crime.

“It demonstrates our commitment and ability to dismantle organised criminal networks in order to keep businesses safe from this type of crime.”

A further ten other individuals connected with the case received sentences totalling more than 12 years earlier in the year.