An unscrupulous letting agent in east London who conned hundreds of people over the course of five years has been jailed for more than three years.
Mohammed Moynul Haque headed up letting agencies Citiside and Flintons, which fraudulently left victims homeless and financially out of pocket.
Haque’s agencies posted adverts featuring fake property photos, with a view to tricking rental applicants into signing contracts and handing over deposits before viewing the properties, and then threatened with forcible and illegal evictions.
Haque led the fraud, sitting at the head of lettings agent Citiside Properties Ltd until it was shut down following a string of complaints. He later set up another agency, Flintons, to carry on scamming renters, and was also linked to a third rogue agency, Mayfields.
At Southwark crown court yesterday, Haque was sentenced to three years and five months in prison.
His ex-wife, Fatima Begum, was handed a four-month sentence, suspended for six months, office manager Gonzalo Egea received a two-year suspended sentence, Razaur Rahman Oli was given a nine-month sentence, suspended for a year, and Nozir Ahmed received a four month prison term suspended for a year.
Three letting agencies set up before being charged I presume and yet the co defendants get suspended sentences with a court service that acts slower than crimes can come to court.
Our system is truly broken.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
… makes a mockery of the word ‘ Justice ‘
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
This isn’t the first time unscrupulous individuals have exploited renters’ trust like this—and sadly, it likely won’t be the last.
Many years ago, after a spate of similar cases, we built a system specifically to identify properties being fraudulently advertised on Gumtree for rent. The pattern was disturbingly familiar: scammers would rent an Airbnb for the weekend, pose as letting agents, show unsuspecting tenants around the property, take a deposit and first month’s rent—and then vanish.
With the technology we developed, we were able to detect these patterns in real-time and worked with the police to help track down one such fake letting agent. It’s always satisfying to see the tech being used for good, but it’s sobering that this sort of deception still persists.
This latest case just reinforces how important it is that we continue to build and deploy tools that can identify bad actors early—before more people are left homeless and out of pocket.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
During the last few years where rents have ballooned you can see just in the East end of London alone all the ‘chancers’ trying to milk the last drops of the industry by setting up their own ‘letting’ agency (the unclean shop front windows is a giveaway clue) . No previous experience needed whatsoever !
I know one agency in the East end where the owner was previously declared bankrupt and then shortly after he set up another letting agency business without any recourse whatsoever !!
My advice, stick to the well known names in the industry, yes it may seem to cost more initially but for peace of mind and a stress free rental term it is well worth it and in most cases you get your deposit back as well !!!
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register