Ten people have appeared in court in connection with a fraud targeting elderly people worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The alleged scam involved persons contacting pensioners and pretending to be police officers to get them to hand over their bank details.
The fraud is said to have spanned across the country – including West Yorkshire – and involved hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Nine male defendants, plus one woman, appeared at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court facing various charges in connection with the offence.
They are:
Syed Ahmed, 34, of Oban Street in London; Shahidur Ali, 23, of Byng Street in London; Mahbub Aziz, 22, of Walden Street in London; Mohammed Hadi, 33, of Uamver Street in London; Mohammed Haque, 41, of The Park in Sidcup, London; Hoque Ismail, 20, of Osborne Street, of Oldham in Greater Manchester; Mohammed Naahed, 49, of Waverton House in London; Shah Abdul, 43, of Powlesland Court in London; and Shabana Begum, 29, of Waverton House in Jodrell Road, London.
Mohammed Noor, 22, appeared at the Huddersfield court via a prison video link from HMP Peterborough.
All are charged with conspiracy to defraud except Ismail who is charged with acquiring criminal property in the form of a £9,900 bank transfer.
Hadi, Abdul and the female defendant Begum are also charged with acquiring criminal property in bank transfers.
Begum faces additional charges of possessing several credit and debit cards belonging to other persons for use in connection with a fraud.
She is further accused of possession of a forged bank statement and a Bangladeshi passport, also in connection with a fraudulent offence.
The offences are dated between July 1 2014 and December 30 2015.
They allegedly involved asking members of the public to make money transfers and cash withdrawals under the pretence of it being part of a police investigation.
All of the defendants gave no indication to the charges when they appeared together in front of a bench of magistrates.
Prosecutor Alex Bozman said: “I invite the court to send all of the conspiracy cases to Leeds Crown Court.
“All of the others are proceeds of crime matters and so are linked.”
All were granted unconditional bail expect Naahed who must surrender his passport to Bethnal Green Police Station in London within seven days.
Their next appearance will be at Leeds Crown Court on May 30.
Interpreters were arranged for three of the defendants.
