Three men who posed as bank employees to steal hundreds of thousands of pounds from vulnerable pensioners will be sentenced in November.
Duncan Currie, 42, Ahsan Shahid, 41, and Sean Singh, 21, all admitted defrauding dozens of pensioners between October 2022 and November 2024.
Shahid is the brother of racist murderer Imran Shahid, who was jailed for the killing of Kris Donald in 2004.
Court appearance and sentencing date
The men appeared at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday, where judge Lord Renucci called for pre-sentencing reports ahead of a sentencing hearing on November 20.
During Friday’s hearing, advocate depute Scott McKenzie explained the scam had involved “considerable planning”, and the fraudsters had used residential telephone directories to get the names, addresses and contact details of targets.
The victims were aged from around 65 into their 90s and lived mainly in Scotland’s central belt.
Fraud method and victim impact
Mr McKenzie said: “The modus operandi of the group was the initiate contact with intended victims by telephone, while pretending to be a police officer, bank fraud investigator or fraud department staff.
“The caller would explain to the victim that there had been alleged misuse of their cards or bank account.
“Many of the victims were provided with bogus telephone numbers to call to verify the alleged frauds.”
He said the victims were then persuaded to “assist in alleged ‘investigations’ or stings” into suspected bank employees by withdrawing large sums of money, typically between £6,000 and £8,000.
A courier, often carrying a fake ID, would then meet the victim and take the money, pretending they would be safeguarding it.
In some cases, the group induced victims to repeat this process multiple times, with some handing over tens of thousands of pounds.
In other cases, Mr McKenzie said, victims were duped into transferring money into “mule” accounts, or to purchase high-value goods including Rolex watches and gold bullion.
Some of the victims’ bank cards were also obtained by the group “on the pretence of being compromised”, and used to buy goods including luxury clothing, Apple devices, and, on one occasion, a motorcycle.
Investigation and evidence
Mr McKenzie said the group created the “veneer of legitimacy” by forging documents including a passport, driving licence, bank employee documents, and a fake NHS ID.
They also instructed their victims “not to tell their family or police about the investigation”.
A police investigation codenamed Operation Hatpin identified a property in East Kilbride as the “hub” of the group’s activities, with Singh and Shahid being seen leaving the property at times relevant to the offending.
Mobile phones, sim cards and a computer linked to the fraud were all found at the address, and Shahid and Singh were also carrying mobiles linked with many of the fraudulent schemes when they were arrested.
The investigation found that over a two-year period, 376 telephone calls had been made to one of the bogus numbers used by the group, with Mr McKenzie saying this showed “potentially hundreds of potential targets” had called it in the belief they were contacting their bank.
At the end of the hearing, Lord Renucci called for criminal justice social work reports on the accused to be prepared ahead of sentencing. Singh, Shahid and Currie, who were present in court wearing black tops, were ordered to remain in custody.
