Guardian: ID theft case, Ricky Gervais's account

Fan of The Office 'rumbled bullion plot'

Court told that bad impersonation of comedian Ricky Gervais set alarm bells ringing about £200,000 bank transfer

Patrick Barkham Wednesday March 2, 2005 The Guardian

A dodgy David Brent impression betrayed a gang of identity thieves who bought nearly £200,000 of gold bullion with money stolen from Ricky Gervais's bank account on April Fool's Day, a court heard yesterday.

The gang were foiled when an east London bullion dealer, Anthony Baird, a fan of The Office, became suspicious of a man who telephoned claiming to be Gervais and asked to buy 27kg (60lb) of gold for £195,480 on April 1 2003.

In phone conversations conducted over the next six days Mr Baird became increasingly wary of the David Brent impersonator on the end of the line, and called the police.

When two couriers arrived to collect the bullion officers pounced, exposing a scam that used a forged passport with a picture identical to that of Gervais posing as David Brent on the DVD of The Office.

Wood Green crown court in north London heard that the group had targeted Gervais with the help of an assistant manager at a telephone banking centre, who allegedly changed passwords and phone details so the gang could steal the money from his account.

Sharonjeet Snober, 28, a former team leader at a NatWest call centre in Southampton, Kenneth Speight, 39, Mushtaq Javed, 43, the boss of a Gatwick courier company, and two of his staff, Craig Reeves, 30, and Harry Peach,

57, were accused of three counts of conspiracy to defraud between February and April 2003.

All five deny the charges.

John Dodd, prosecuting, described how the group targeted Gervais after impersonating two other customers of the Royal Bank of Scotland group, infiltrating their bank accounts and using their savings to purchase £127,156 of gold. This gold has never been recovered.

On the same day the alleged conman claiming to be Gervais contacted Baird & Co, the comic actor's bank at Charing Cross got a fax requesting that £23,000 be transferred from his savings to his current account and that £195,480 be transferred to Baird & Co's account.

On April 2 bank staff rang the number on their database as being Gervais's mobile phone, which had been changed to the gang's untraceable pay-as-you-go phone. Apparently fooled by the conman who assured them it was not unusual to be suddenly buying such a large quantity of gold, staff moved the money.

"One thing seems to be clear: that Mr Baird was something of a fan of Mr Gervais because it was as a result of his suspicions that the police were alerted to this attempted fraud as it was unfolding," Mr Dodd told the jury. "I would suggest that some of those involved were not fans of The Office, unlike Mr Baird."

After a number of calls between the bullion dealer and "Mr Gervais", it was agreed the gold would be collected on April 7 by courier.

But the court heard that Mr Baird had told police, who were waiting for the gang at his offices.

Mr Peach was allegedly arrested when he entered the building and handed over documents including an authorisation supposedly signed by Gervais and a photocopy of a fake passport in the comedian's name. The passport was found in a white van outside, where the driver, Mr Reeves, was also detained.

Holding up the fake passport, Mr Dodd explained that it had belonged to another man before the gang had scanned in personal details and a photograph of Gervais in a characteristic pose.

"I'm told if you look at that photograph and you have the DVD of The Office you'll see a remarkable similarity," he said. "Clever, clever stuff."

Computer records showed Mrs Snober had accessed the accounts belonging to Gervais on March 12 and again on April 1, 2 and 4. In her role as team leader there was no legitimate reason for her to do so, according to the prosecutor.

An investigator analysed the infiltrated accounts, and those of three other customers, and found that an individual logged on as Mrs Snober had accessed each account.

Passwords and personal security details had been changed without the customers' knowledge.

"The inference that the fraud was an inside job, and one facilitated by Mrs Snober, is overwhelming," Mr Dodd said.

"Only someone working within the banking system would have been able to access the crucial confidential information relating to individuals' bank accounts, changing contact details as happened here, and then sharing that information with others minded to participate in this fraudulent conduct."

The case continues.

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