A serial eBay fraudster who sold £1.1 million of non-existent goods on eBay over a 10-day period in the run-up to Christmas has been jailed for 13 years. The 38 year old from Manchester denied his role in the scam but was convicted of fraudulent trading following a trial at Manchester Crown Court, where he was sentenced for multiple fraud offences today, the 5th of October. PayPal ended up refunding all the customers protected by the eBay buyer guarantee.
The court heard how Hassan Butt set up a company called MI Genie which he used to advertise electronic goods such as mobile phones and tablets. In a 10-day period in December 2014 the company took £1.1m of orders but no items were delivered and the money disappeared.
It is estimated that approximately 3,000 members of the public were victims of the eBay fraudster’s actions. As well as the £1.1m eBay fraud, Hassan was convicted of obtaining £47,000 fraudulent loans and credit, and VAT fraud to the tune of £300,000.
Just to rub salt into the wound, he was separately convicted for £6,000 worth of fake item not received claims where he ripped off honest sellers.
“Hassan Butt is a serial fraudster and liar whose actions in scamming money online of thousands of eBay customers ended up costing the website over £1.1m. Butt tried to pin the guilt on a business associate who had left the UK but the jury did not believe his story. This was a difficult case but the CPS worked with the police to comprehensively demonstrate to the jury that Butt was guilty of fraud.”
– Stephane Pendered, Specialist Prosecutor, CPS Specialist Fraud Division
A second man, Taiub Amin-Dar, 35, a business associate of Butt’s who is also from Manchester, was convicted of fraud and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work at an earlier hearing.
