Man stole £490,000 by impersonating bank customers

Blessing Mudzinge from Ipswich stole £490,000 from bank customers

A man who stole £490,000 after impersonating bank customers to take over their accounts has been jailed.

Blessing Mudzinge, 41, of Skylark Lane, Ipswich, would make phone calls to banks pretending to be customers to gain access to their accounts, before transferring money to his own mule accounts.

He admitted three counts of fraud and was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison at Ipswich Crown Court on Monday.

Det Ch Insp Paul Curtis, of the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), said he hoped the sentencing acted "as a clear message" to fraudsters.

Fraudulent calls

During an investigation officers were able to obtain a mobile phone belonging to Mudzinge that had details of victims' accounts he stole from, as well as the accounts he had used to house the stolen money.

According to the DCPCU, forensic voice analysis was also used to established him as the person making the fraudulent phone calls to the banks.

He also was charged and admitted to entering into or being concerned in the acquisition, use or control of criminal property.

All victims were fully refunded by the banks.

Mudzinge will also face a confiscation hearing aimed at recovering illicit funds in February as well as an application for a Serious Crime Prevention Order designed to prevent future criminal activity.

"Mudzinge used exploitation and deceit to steal from thousands of people of their hard-earned cash," Det Ch Insp Curtis said

"Thanks to the work of DCPCU and the banks, Mudzinge's criminal antics were stopped and the victims were reunited with their money."