Post Office Fraudsters Jailed for Raking in Over £700k
Four men have been locked up today (27 April) after running a slick post office scam worth more than £700,000. Manish Parmar, 34, from Southampton, and his family ran the post office inside Goldsmiths (Best One) newsagent in Rumbridge Street, Totton.
Ex-Postmaster Cheats the System
Parmar was the postmaster from 2011 to 2014. Even after the post office shut down in December 2014, he kept using his insider knowledge—and an official post office branch stamp—to pull off the massive fraud.
Fake Bank Slips Fuel Massive Scam
Between 2015 and early 2016, Parmar roped in 11 others to let him use their bank paying-in slips. These slips were sent and processed as if the post office was still open, fooling the system and pumping cash into their accounts.
- A whopping £701,835 was fraudulently paid into Parmar’s and his co-conspirators’ bank accounts.
- Parmar was found guilty on 15 January 2018 of fraud and two counts of money laundering.
- He was sentenced today at Southampton Crown Court to six years and six months behind bars.
Police Send Warning to Fraudsters
“My thanks go to everyone who was involved in this long and complex investigation,” said Police Staff Investigator Jess Swift. “We are delighted to have brought those responsible to justice and this should serve as a warning to anyone who might think that fraud pays – it doesn’t.”
