Leicester Crown Court has sentenced Surjan Roopra, 29 to 18months imprisonment after he pled guilty to converting £55,000.
Roopra is now facing a proceeds of crime hearing, where the court could confiscate any properties he may be owning.
Roopra carried out his crime by accessing the email account of a home buyer’s conveyancing solicitor, and then sent a bogus email from this account, giving the home buyer new bank account details in which to send payment.
The victim, thinking the email was from his solicitor, paid the money without thinking twice.
According to the prosecutor:
“Some payments from the defendant’s account went to overseas accounts, some of those in India, and there was a transaction to Nigeria.”
“The Crown’s view is that the defendant played a part in what appears to be an almost worldwide set up, in which the solicitors were targeted and emails hacked.
“It might be suggested the defendant was no more than a money mule, but bearing in mind how much was retained for his own purpose, it’s clear he had much more involvement.”
