A fraudster who swindled companies out tens of thousands of pounds in a 'sophisticated' e-mail scam and then evaded justice for nearly four and a half years has walked free from court.
Dad-of-five Mohammed Rahman, 41, stole almost £85,000 in a "classic diversion fraud" which saw half a dozen companies targeted with emails advising them to divert funds they owed to other firms into his bank account.
Rahman then failed to appear in court to face the charges in 2017 and avoided arrest until late last year.
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He was released from Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday after a judge said the five months he had spent on remand meant he was able to suspend his sentence.
The fraudulent e-mails all purported to be from three genuine companies, Avocet, Premier Tools and Centreless, and were sent in December 2014 and January 2015 to customers with whom they had a "genuine business relationship", the court was told.
The emails told them that their suppliers bank details had changed and any future payments should be a sent to a new, Lloyds Bank account.
That account was in fact Rahman's personal account which he used on a day-to-day basis.
A total of £84,742.15 was received by Rahman. He made several onward money transfers and withdrew a large amount of cash.
The emails were also linked back to an IP address listed at his then address in Chadderton, Oldham.
Two of the three sets of e-mails were sent by genuine addresses belonging to the companies, which the prosecution said had been "hacked into in some way."
The third set was sent from a slightly different address designed to mimic the genuine one.
The domain name was purchased from a website by Rahman using his own debit card, the court heard.
In total, five firms transferred money to the account. A sixth also received one of the emails and were due to pay £104,000 to Premier Tools but they queried it with the firm and as a result no money was transferred, the court was told.
David Lees, prosecuting, said the fraud was 'sophisticated.'
"Someone knew the names of the people involved at both ends" he said.
"Someone also knew the companies were about to make payments and timed their e-mails accordingly."
Rahman initially pleaded not guilty after being charged in June 2016, however, he did not appear at court on the day his trial was due to start, April 19, 2017 and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
During that time police conducted enquiries at numerous addresses in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire in a bid to track him down, without success.
He was eventually arrested in Oldham, where it is understood he had been living, in September last year.
He changed his plea to guilty when the case was re-listed.
Rahman, whose address was given in court as Merthyr Road, Northampton, admitted six counts of fraud and an offence under the Bail Act at a hearing last November.
The court was told he has nine previous convictions for 31 offences, including some for dishonesty offences, and two for failing to surrender.
Rahman claimed to have given his details to people he owed money to and allowed them to use his internet and bank details.
Alison Heyworth, defending, said he owed around £15,000 to loan sharks and that's why he became involved.
"He didn't live a profligate lifestyle" she said, "he just didn't have any money.
"And he thought this was the quickest way to pay those debts."
She said he was the "frontman" for the operation who "took all the risk."
"He wasn't the instigator, he wasn't the driving force," she said.
She added he didn't attend for his trial in 2017 as two months beforehand his partner had given birth to his fifth child and he "couldn't face what he believed would be his inevitable conviction."
Mr Rahman's wife was sat in the public gallery in court on Friday afternoon (February 4) however "the future of his marriage is uncertain" Ms Heyworth said.
Judge Paul Lawton said Rahman had "dug a big hole" for himself with the offences.
"It was sophisticated fraud, but I accept poorly executed by you as you left your tracks all over it and were very easily detected," he said.
"Almost £85,000 was stolen by you from the five businesses who did transfer money.
"I have no doubt you were approached as you are a man who is well versed in fraud."
He said he was just about able to suspend his two-year prison sentence, for a period of two years, due to the five months he had already spent in prison awaiting sentence.
He also ordered him to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and twenty rehabilitation activity requirement days.
"You should count yourself very fortunate to be able to keep your liberty today," he told Rahman.
"You have dug a big hole for yourself with these proceedings.
"But I cannot ignore the fact that you have kept yourself out of trouble for seven years, whilst unlawfully at large."
