Two men from Leicester have been sentenced at Inner London Crown Court to 25 months each for posing as bank staff and stealing £111,365 from victims.
The sentencing follows an investigation and arrest by the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), a specialist banking industry sponsored police unit.
Zaki and Hanzalah Daudo
Picture credit: Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit
Between 2019 and 2024, brothers Zaki Daudo, 34 and Hanzalah Daudo, 46, worked together to fraudulently obtain access to banking customer accounts, by impersonating bank staff and tricking bank customers into handing over information such as security details and one-time-passcodes. The pair would use the stolen banking information to make online purchases.
Through the police’s investigation, led by Detective Sergeant Chloe Fairclough, the DCPCU were able to obtain evidence of the fraud, including details of over 65,000 unique bank card numbers on Zaki Daudo’s phone, as well as over 29,000 sets of banking data from Hanazlah Daudo’s laptop. Investigators also discovered messages between the brothers on social media platforms containing compromised victim data, showing their criminal collaboration.
All victims were fully reimbursed by the bank.
Officer in the Case, PC Ant King said: “This case demonstrates the callousness of the Daudo brothers in stealing thousands from banking customers. The money stolen is only a snapshot of the potential losses to victims had these two been able to continue their crimes.
“Due to the hard work and collaboration between the banking industry and the DCPCU, we have been able to prevent further emotional distress to customers and prevent these brothers causing any further financial harm to unsuspecting victims”
UK Finance data shows that in the first half of 2024, £193.7m was lost to remote purchase fraud, where criminals use stolen card details to make purchases on the internet, over the phone or via mail order.
