A Scottish family “united by ferocious greed” managed to scoop £1.3m from vulnerable pensioners across the country.
Matriarch Shameem Ali Mohammed was up to her neck in the ill-gotten gains. The proceeds from the UK-wide phone scam saw the six-strong crime gang splash their stolen cash on Rolex watches, luxury holidays and sports cars. The Mohammed clan’s sickening operation saw them cold-call potential victims, where they posed as bank workers and told pensioners they were victims of suspected fraud.
OAPs were then conned into transferring money to the family members, who were based in Glasgow’s south side. Using a newsagent as a front, they managed to con at least 40 pensioners in England and the Channel Islands posing as bank security staff – with one poor victim losing £129,000.
Shameem’s son Atif managed to obtain their details from his then girlfriend, who worked in a call centre. Their sickening operation was unravelled when one member of the gang slipped up and used a family phone to call a victim.
Shameem denied all knowledge of her sons’ scheme. But a jury at Bristol Crown Court found the 44-year-old guilty of acquiring, using and possessing criminal property.
View 4 ImagesAn expensive car owned by the fraudster family.
When police raided the family home in Glasgow’s Crosshill, they uncovered thousands of pounds and mobile phones hidden throughout. And in her bedroom they discovered £100,476 in cash hidden under the bed and in a false partition at the top of her wardrobe.
They didn’t even need to ask before she blurted out there was £4,500 in one bag. Cops also found Gucci and DKNY handbags, a Rolex guarantee card and a receipt for gold bought in Dubai. Forty-one mobile phones and 57 SIM cards were stashed in various places around the home.
On the mobiles, they found deleted notes listing victims’ personal details and the name of the fictitious bank adviser they were posing as. But it was family WhatsApp chats that incriminated the mum of four as being involved in the dirty scheme.
View 4 ImagesAtif Mohammed
In the lead-up to their arrest, she warned Atif and another man we cannot name for legal reasons about their spending habits.
During one conversation where she thought Atif had been gambling, she wrote: “I need money. You made 40 grand last week. I want it all.”
Atif replied: “I’m not playing. I go to watch them.”
“You are taking cash in,” she wrote. “You are going to get yourself into bother.”
View 4 ImagesA huge pile of cash found by investigators
Referring to how he could not prove he earned the money lawfully, she added: “You canny prove anything.” In another conversation with her nephew, Shameem said: “He does what he wants. He doesn’t listen to any of us.”
She added: “I told him off about that s*** car he bought as well for £45,000.”
The gang boasted about their crimes and described their victims as “losers” during family chats. They even shared links to news reports, with Atif messaging his cousin Asif about a scam in Jersey, saying: “That was you LOL. Hammering it.”
At Shameem’s trial, prosecutor Rupert Lowe said: “The declared income of the Mohammed family was extremely modest but they had the trappings of significant wealth. They hired Ferraris and Lamborghinis and purchased a Mercedes in cash, which was sitting on their drive. They bought expensive watches, jewellery and designer bags, they indulged in high-value gambling and travel and bought a house in Dubai. The effect on the people they targeted was extremely grave.”
Despite her protestations of innocence and ignorance, a jury at Bristol Crown Court found her guilty of acquiring, using and possessing criminal property. She was sentenced to two years in prison for her part. By 2018, she was back working at the family off-licence in Glasgow. She paid back almost all of the £102,244 she was found to have made and has remained on the right side of the law.
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Atif was free within two years of being sentenced in 2018 and was spotted in Glasgow driving a brand new Mercedes and wearing high-end designer gear. He paid back just a fraction of the cash he scooped under Proceeds of Crime laws.
A man we cannot name benefited by £156,971 but paid back £17,905. Most of the victims didn’t get their money back, as banks don’t take any responsibility when victims “willingly” hand over their money.
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