Members of a gang who conned people out of £1m by placing fake adverts for goods and services on eBay and other websites have been jailed for a total of 22-and-a-half years.
The organised crime network was led by Dragoz Dragomir, who ran a counterfeit ID factory, which helped facilitate the crimes. He produced fake EU national ID cards, passports and utility bills to open more than 100 bank accounts to receive payments from the fraudulent adverts.
When Dragomir was arrested last June, he was living under the false name of Andrei Bernath. Police searched office space he was renting in Enfield, north London, where they discovered multiple printers and computers set up to mass produce fake ID documents.
Sample ID cards used to advertise his services were found, including an image on a mobile telephone of a mocked-up UK driving licence with a photo of David Cameron.
Dragomir, 34, previously of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, was found to be wanted under a European arrest warrant issued in Romania for fraud convictions in 2007. He was jailed for seven-and-a-half years at Blackfriars crown court in London on Friday having been convicted in December last year of offences including conspiracy to commit fraud and possession of equipment adapted for making fake ID documents.
Detective constable Chris Collins from the Met’s Falcon squad, which tackles fraud and linked crime online, said the gang defrauded hundreds of victims.
He added: “Dragomir was an enabler of serious crime whose products are likely to have helped others net millions of pounds from fraud and evade immigration control. I am sure the arrest of Dragomir has helped to disrupt other criminal networks. Dragomir was a professional forger specialising in counterfeit Romanian, French, German, Spanish, Polish, Hungarian, Slovakian, Austrian and Italian national identity cards, UK driving licences and Italian passports.”
He advised anyone shopping online to use the website’s official payment mechanism and not to transfer money directly to a bank account.
Mihai Cirstoiu, 37, of Woodford, east London, who masterminded the fraud scam, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, having previously pleaded guilty to offences including conspiracy to commit fraud.
George Cerneanu, 25, of no fixed abode, and Georgian Alexandru Stanciu, 27, of Woodford, were each sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. They admitted opening the bank accounts and withdrawing the money from cash machines around the UK.
Maria Bilici, 33, of St Albans in Hertfordshire, was jailed for four years for her part in laundering the proceeds of the fraud. Last year, she began trying to sell her assets including a house and Range Rover. She also fraudulently obtained a £25,000 loan that was cashed and sent abroad.
Police are appealing for information about the whereabouts of a sixth member of the gang, Sebastian Ilie. He is a naturalised British citizen but thought to be in continental Europe, possibly using a false identity. A European arrest warrant has been issued.
