Three men have been jailed for orchestrating a large-scale scam that tricked hundreds of people into paying deposits for vans they never received.
Liam Cumbor, 32, Patrick Stokes, 36, and Michael Stokes, 31, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and concealing criminal property. A judge at Sheffield Crown Court sentenced each of them to two-and-a-half years in prison.
According to South Yorkshire Police, the operation defrauded more than 300 victims, with losses estimated in the hundreds of thousands of pounds. Detective Chief Inspector Anna Sedgwick said the men had conned people “out of hard-earned money.”
The fraud involved advertising vehicles—typically vans—on an online shopping platform. Interested buyers would contact the supposed seller and pay a deposit into a bank account. When they attempted to collect the vehicle, they were sent to a random address belonging to someone who had no knowledge of the listing.
During the investigation, officers discovered the criminals used numerous bank accounts to receive the deposits. These accounts belonged to around 90 people who had been manipulated into allowing their accounts to be used, often under the promise of payment.
Cumbor, of Tudor Road in Doncaster; Michael Stokes, of Oakmount Road in Eastleigh, Hampshire; and Patrick Stokes, of Rookes Crescent in Chelmsford, all admitted their roles in the conspiracy.
DCI Sedgwick noted that the scheme had a national impact, calling the investigation “dedicated and thorough.”
