A pair who traded fraudulently and defrauded both landlords and tenants out of at least £24,000 through a range of letting and rental scams have been sentenced.

After a lengthy investigation into the activities of a number of letting agencies, Sultana Akther, of Spencer Road, Rainham, and Skeena Noor Rashid, of Herold Mugford Terrace, Pearl Close, Beckton, admitted fraudulent trading.

This followed numerous complaints linked to Signature London Ltd and Signature London Group Ltd for duping prospective tenants, landlords and existing tenants. Victims had rent deposits collected and never returned, holding funds stolen and – in the case of landlords – collected rents not being transferred into their accounts.

Community order

At a hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Akther was handed a 14 month-sentence suspended for 18 months concurrent for each indictment and fined £2,000, while Rashid was given a 24-month community order including 80 hours of unpaid work.

The prosecution comes as a result of an investigation by the National Trading Standards Regional Investigations Team and Barking and Dagenham Council.

Criminal activity

Councillor Syed Ghani (pictured right), cabinet member for enforcement & community safety, says: “This case just goes to show that people who engage in criminal activity can run but they cannot hide. The accused may have thought they had a fool proof scam which would have made it difficult or impossible for people affected to recover their money,” he adds.

Trish Burls, chair of the NTS team, says: “Taking advantage of first-time buyers, exploiting homeowners’ desires to move and disrupting the everyday practice of reputable landlords demonstrates the utter disregard the defendants had for the wellbeing of others.”

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