A mother who sold counterfeit luxury fashion items on Instagram while claiming benefits has been jailed. Megan Carney-Borrowman, 35, from Southport, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison at Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to a string of offences.
Carney-Borrowman sold fake goods from brands including Chanel, Burberry, Hugo Boss and Versace through social media accounts. Between 2019 and 2023, business accounts linked to her received nearly £4,319,952.73, with £753,419.50 transferred into her personal accounts. While making these profits, she was on Universal Credit and also claimed thousands of pounds for a "lost" Rolex watch that was actually seized from her wrist during a search of her home.
Family involvement in the conspiracy
Carney-Borrowman drew her husband, 35-year-old Jordan Borrowman, a convicted drug dealer, into the conspiracy, along with her mother Sandra Carney, 65, and her mother's long-term business partner Adam Yaffe, 53. The court heard that Carney-Borrowman was the "prime mover" in the offending, "clearly supported and encouraged by her mother."
Judge Louise Brandon said: "The business operated through Instagram accounts and WhatsApp ordering systems with multiple bank accounts, corporate structures, direct overseas suppliers, drop-ship methods, concealed payments and efforts to avoid detection."
The judge added: "Involvement at any level of counterfeiting are grave offences. You all contributed. It is a consequence of your arrests that your families will also suffer from your criminality."
Investigation and discovery
The investigation began after a dissatisfied customer sent a letter to Chanel complaining she had been duped and could not return a bag. She provided an Instagram account, "dollies_closetx21x", and the name "Meg Carney". A brand protection officer at Chanel found the account had 24,000 followers and had posted over 3,000 times.
Search warrants were carried out at the defendants' homes on November 2, 2022. During a second search of Carney-Borrowman's home on April 12, 2023, officers found £158,000 in cash concealed in her baby's bedroom, with the mum claiming it was her children's savings. Her phone was recovered hidden on top of her curtains.
The phone contained five million undeleted pages and showed a "very large volume of chats from which it was overwhelmingly evident that she was selling counterfeit goods and using a 'drop-shipping' method to import them from the overseas supplier directly to the customer's address."
Benefit fraud and insurance claim
Carney-Borrowman was arrested for benefit fraud on May 2, 2024, with an investigation by the Department of Work and Pensions finding she benefited by around £68,300. The court also heard she made an insurance claim for a Rolex watch she said she had lost on a night out in Blackpool, receiving £8,000 from Halifax. However, the watch was seized by police and found to bear the same serial number as the bogus claim.
In mitigation, Nicholas Clarke, defending Carney-Borrowman, said her remorse was "reflective of the genuine fear she has for her children" and that she had been diagnosed with PTSD following the death of a child. He accepted she continued to offend for a long time past her first arrest, but added she was "very much cooperative" after her later arrest.
Sentences
Judge Brandon told Carney-Borrowman: "You were the architect and the beneficiary of the criminal enterprise. The counterfeiting was your business and you controlled it over several years."
The judge sentenced Carney to two years' imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with 120 hours of unpaid work. Borrowman received 12 months' imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with 120 hours of unpaid work. Yaffe was sentenced to an 18-month community order with 120 hours of unpaid work.
A proceeds of crime hearing will take place against all defendants other than Yaffe, where prosecutors will seek to seize the illicit profits. Detective Inspector Adam Williams of the NWROCU said: "This was a sophisticated and long-running trademarks and money laundering offence which generated significant profits through the sale of counterfeit designer goods while simultaneously exploiting public funds and defrauding an insurance company."
