Birmingham bank card scam trio detained
Three men have been detained after stealing £11,000 from people who believed they were fraud investigators seizing bank cards and ID numbers.
Hussain Abdirahman, 20, Imran Miah, 18, and Masum Uddin, 19, all from Camden, London, ran a so-called courier scam whilst staying at a Birmingham B&B.
They pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and were given youth detention sentences at Birmingham Crown Court.
Abdirahman will serve 37 months. Miah and Uddin will serve 20 months each.
After the sentencing, police revealed the trio phoned victims to say their bank accounts had been hacked and a "courier" would be sent to collect their cards and personal identification numbers (Pins).
These were later used for cash withdrawals and internet shopping, which led to between £550 and £5,500 being taken from accounts.
Their oldest victim was an 86-year-old woman from Sutton Coldfield.
Police arrested the trio in September, after a taxi firm reported a suspicious booking involving a driver being asked to collect and hand over a package.
Det Insp Ben West, from West Midlands Police, said: "These are notable convictions against men who would undoubtedly have gone on to defraud many more people in the West Midlands had we not caught them in the act."
Miah, Abdirahman and Uddin targeted elderly residents in Harborne, Kings Heath, Kings Norton, Sutton Coldfield, Quinton and Yardley.
West Midlands Police launched a major campaign earlier this year alerting residents to courier scams.
The force said it had seen more than 100 reported cases of courier fraud in the West Midlands this year.