Seven in court accused of scamming Shrewsbury woman out of £140,000 in cryptocurrency
District judge tells defendants the case is “too serious” for magistrates court and commits the case to Shrewsbury Crown Court
Six men and a woman appeared in court accused of stealing £140,000 worth of cryptocurrency from a Shrewsbury woman.
Luke Bowden, aged 20; Raees Awan, 25; Taron Mullar, 23; Abdullah Tariq, 19; Danica Thiyagarasa, 21; Steven Sabu, 21 and Mohammed Islam, 23, are alleged to have been part of a conspiracy which involved hacking an account and SIM swapping to steal the currency.
Tariq, of Anderton Park Road, Birmingham; and Sabu, of Broadclyst Avenue, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, are both accused of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and conspiracy to conceal/disguise/convert/transfer/remove criminal property.
Awan, of Revidge Road, Blackburn, Lancashire, Mullar, of Eastbrae Road, Derby, Derbyshire, and Islam, of Leigham Court Drive, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex,, are accused of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
Thiyagarasa, of Juniper Court, Towcester, Northamptonshire, and Bowden, of York Road, Rochford, Essex, are accused of conspiracy to conceal/disguise/convert/transfer/remove criminal property.
The defendants all appeared separately in front of District Judge Joseph O’Connor at Telford Magistrates Court. No pleas were entered to the charges.
The judge told all seven that the matter is “too serious” to be dealt with at the magistrates court, so he committed the case to crown court.
They were bailed to appear at Shrewsbury Crown Court on August 18 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.