A crooked family has been locked up for swindling £150,000 from the government’s Covid Bounce Back Loan scheme. Their cash haul funded luxury home makeovers, private school fees, and personal debts, following a hard-hitting National Crime Agency (NCA) probe.
Fake Firms, Fake Claims, Real Jail Time
Kashid Rashid, 53, from Ilford, along with his wife Noreen Malik, 46, nephew Rehaan Mohammed, 32, and brother Rizwan Haider, 61, set up bogus businesses to snag three £50,000 Bounce Back Loans during the pandemic. They lied about how COVID hit their companies and pumped up turnover figures to max out the loans.
A fourth loan application was knocked back after officials found the company was dormant. But by then, the damage was done.
Luxury Living on Dirty Loan Money
The NCA revealed the stolen cash was funnelled to family and linked businesses. It paid for swanky home improvements, school fees, vehicles, and trailers. Shocking voice notes surfaced of Rashid coaching others to create fake invoices to back their loan bids.
In July 2020, Rashid even tried buying a company just to secure another loan, offering the owner £15,000 to apply before the sale – but the owner sensibly said no.
Fraudster’s Past Catches Up
On top of the loan fraud, Rashid claimed Universal Credit under a fake name, kept hush about having a child, and lied about where he lived. The family faced justice at Southwark Crown Court on 28 November 2025 after a five-week trial.
- Kashid Rashid was handed six-and-a-half years behind bars.
- Nephew Rehaan Mohammed got three years in prison.
- Wife Noreen Malik and brother Rizwan Haider received two-year suspended sentences each.
“They deliberately exploited a government scheme set up to help in a national crisis,” Judge HHJ Hale said. He slammed their actions as “a systematic and repeated assault on the banks and the Bounce Back scheme.”
Rashid isn’t new to fraud. With past convictions in the United States and Romania, he will be extradited to Romania after serving his UK sentence to complete a four-year term.
