Indian students in UK fined for car scam
Two Indian PhD students who have been jailed for carrying out an elaborate car sale scam in the UK, have been asked to pay back 18,000 pounds as fine.
The 33-year-old duo also face deportaion to India after completing their sentence.
Zubair Ansari and Sharif Uddin, who are enrolled for PhD at the Loughborough University, earned more than 38,000 pounds from the scam carried out in east Midlands.
They have now been ordered by the Leicester Crown Court to pay back almost 18,000 pounds.
Uddin has been ordered to pay 14,235 pounds and Ansari must give back 3,735 pounds within three months or face serving further time in prison.Almost 5,500 pounds of this money will be paid to the victims as compensation.They sold cars whose mileage meters were turned back, carried forged certificates, bogus service histories and false hire purchase reports.
The two married students are currently in jail. Ansari has been jailed for 18 months while Uddin for 12 months.Both face deportation to India after completing their sentences. Both men's student visas have now expired, the court was told.The pair bought high-mileage vehicles from auctions and altered the odometers to show a lower mileage.
They then advertised and sold the cars at a higher price, along with forged certificates and bogus service histories.In some cases, the mileage had been reduced by half.
Vehicles were advertised and sold through Auto Trader and on the eBay website.
During the court case prosecutors said it was believed the pair had bought 40 cars at auctions. The case involved the sale of seven vehicles, worth a total of 38,000 pounds.
Judge Simon Hammond said: "It was a carefully worked out scam, made more serious because these two men are highly educated graduates who have used their skill and intelligence to set up this fraud. The public are entitled to rely on the mileage of cars, but these customers were cheated."
