Fraudsters convicted over fake college scam

Two scammers used a school's name to defraud students out of thousands of pounds after they enrolled on courses that did not exist.

Sanketkumar Patel, 37, of Leicester, and Chirag Patel, 46, of London, pretended they were running courses at Prior Park College in Bath, Somerset.

The pair charged foreign nationals up to £6,500 for a place on a fake business course.

They were convicted of money laundering and given suspended sentences.

The scam was discovered when a student came to look around the real school in Bath to discover the course they had paid £5,500 for did not exist.

Some foreign nationals who came to study on a UK visa were deported.

Prior Park College reported it to the authorities in 2015 and an investigation began.

Some of the money the students paid was traced to bank accounts operated by the two perpetrators.

The proceeds of crime were initially laundered through an account in a false name before being transferred to an account of Sanketkumar Patel, of Edenhall Close, Leicester.

It was discovered that he operated a money transfer business with two offices in London.

He was convicted of two counts of money laundering a total of £13,000 and was sentenced to 21 months in jail, suspended for two years.

A proceeds of crime confiscation investigation has been launched.

Chirag Patel, of Wellspring Crescent, Wembley, pleaded guilty to eight counts of money laundering a total of £47,000 and was sentenced to two years in prison for each offence, suspended for two years.

The judge ordered him to do 120 hours of community service and pay £2,000 in costs.

He had also received money from fake job adverts enticing foreign nationals to apply for work in the UK at care homes in Surrey, Sussex and Wales, committing some of the offences while on licence.

Bath & North East Somerset Council Trading Standards worked with the police and HM Revenue & Customs to bring the case to court.

Councillor Tim Ball, cabinet member for planning and licensing, said, "These two individuals were part of a sophisticated money laundering exercise intended to evade the authorities and let the criminal gangs profit."

Emma Sandberg, director of operations & finance at Prior Park College, said: "We remain saddened that innocent people fell victim to this callous manipulation of their aspirations to attend our school."

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