Royal Mail fraudsters in £16k "gold for cash" scam

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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THREE people have been sentenced for their roles in a fraud after they claimed thousands of pounds in compensation for “lost” gold and cash in the post.

They pretended to send jewellery or money in the post, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

When their packages arrived empty, as they had always been, they claimed the cost of insurance for the high-value item from the Royal Mail.

The total paid out in compensation to the group amounted to £16,597.70.

Judge Michael Stokes QC told prime mover Kevin Newton he would serve 12 months, after he admitted conspiracy to defraud the Royal Mail Group Limited. Newton, 33, of Stavely Way, Gamston, received 30 months consecutively for a burglary.

One of Newton’s claims during the scam was for a gold chain, apparently sent to a scrap gold company.

When the recipient there discovered the chain was missing from the parcel, Newton claimed £410.92 compensation from his insurance cover he took out the with Royal Mail.

Co-accused Lee Wholey had pleaded guilty to his role in the plot, and was sentenced to ten months in prison, suspended for one year, and must complete 240 hours of unpaid work.

The 32-year-old, of Threlkeld Close, West Bridgford, posted four special delivery packets to the same company containing “jewellery”.

They were empty on arrival and each carried a small re-stuck slit along the seam

Stacey Haining, 26, of Woodview, Edwalton, pleaded guilty to two charges of making a false representation to gain a benefit.

She was ordered to pay £3,414 compensation in six months and must complete a one year community order.

She sent a special delivery item to the same company as the others and a packet said to contain £2,400 cash.

Royal Mail Group began an internal investigation, firstly looking at their own postal staff, to establish if the packets could have been opened whilst in transit, after they had been weighed and paid for.

Whilst this inquiry was underway, Royal Mail’s customer service department was contacted by Richard Barks, who has a pawnbrokers in Queens Road, Beeston, after Wholey attempted to cash four Royal Mail Group cheques for £8,500.

Wholey had produced several Royal Mail letters, referring to compensation payable for the loss in the post of 24ct gold jewellery.

Mr Barks suspicions were aroused because in his experience in the jewellery business, he had never come across 24ct jewellery.

Judge Michael Stokes said: “To a greater or lesser degree all three of you were involved in a fraud, in the case of Kevin Newton in particular, which continued over a substantial period of time.

“The essence of the dishonesty there on was to obtain money from the Royal Mail on the basis that packages that had been weighed in the post office contained valuable gold, when in reality these were packages which had been deliberately construed to give the impression they had contained gold and had been interfered with whilst the package was in the hands of the Royal Mail.

“These packages were interfered with before they were posted, to give the impression that instead a dishonest postal worker had opened it for the contents.”

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[Pat Ostman]

Bet some postmen were targeted by the IB for some time.

[Lounge Lizard]

Bet some postmen were targeted by the IB for some time.

Yes, "Royal Mail Group began an internal investigation, firstly looking at their own postal staff, to establish if the packets could have been opened whilst in transit".