A Nigerian father of three who helped mastermind a UK-based Facebook and eBay parcel fraud racket after he won refugee status in Britain by identifying as gay has been jailed for more than five years.

Former asylum seeker Saheed Azeez, 33, had been allowed to settle in UK after claiming he was being persecuted over his homosexuality by Boko Haram militants.

But after moving to Wigan, Greater Manchester, Azeez had three children by three different women and married one of them before helping create a network of strangers to assist with what prosecutors described as a ‘sophisticated and well resourced’ scam.

The strangers used their homes to field mail order parcels addressed to fake IDs before Azeez himself picked them up and sold them via his brother’s electrical shop.

But Azeez went on to father three children with three women in Britain, and ultimately married the third. He went on to help establish a sophisticated fraud racket

Over a 14-month period, up to 272 victims lost out a total of £220,000 after being persuaded into sending out second hand items including second hand smart phones and cameras without getting payment first.

Police eventually tracked down Azeez as he was dropping off one of his young son at primary school. As he was about to be detained he hid three smart phones which had been used in the scam inside the boy’s school bag which were found by a teaching assistant.

The phones were found to contain videos made by Azeez and sent to one of his 15 underworld contacts named ‘Baddest Boy’ showing moving images of used smart phones stolen from sellers. Most of the proceeds were spirited out of the UK using Bitcoin.

At Bolton Crown Court, Azeez who is currently said to be identified as bisexual admitted conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and plotting to possess criminal property and was jailed for five years and two months.

The Home Office is expected to deport him following his release. Nine householders who allowed their addresses to be used as ‘drops’ in the scam will be sentenced next year. It is feared many others have not been traced.

Sentencing Judge Nicholas Clarke KC said the offences were just ‘the tip of the iceberg’ and added: ‘You were a willing and enthusiastic participant, recruiting others and widening the profitability of this dishonest scheme and putting the money beyond the recovery of the forces of law and order.

‘There was sophisticated planning, the fraudulent activity occurred over a sustained period of time and there were a large number of victims.

‘While others would have been involved in the online fraud you were the one recruiting others, you picked the parcels up, you instructed the parcels to be received using fake names. You paid them, you collected the items, you sold the items in your shop and sent profits upstream.

‘The handlers were financially vulnerable, struggling with drug addiction and had mental health difficulties – and you exploited them. The operation as a whole was very complicated, it took place over a long period of time, in excess of a year, the number of victims was in the hundreds. There is no doubt you played a leading role.’

The scam took place between September 2020 and November 2021 after former Yodel delivery driver Azeez who had his own removals company began providing ‘delivery services’ for online fraudsters who used Nigerian phones to dupe Facebook and eBay users based in the UK.

The court heard Greater Manchester Police began investigating reports of online fraud in the northern part of the city during mid 2021.

Victims were convinced to send Azeez their high value electronics without being paid first – and he would pick them up and sell them in his brother’s electronics shop (above)

Andy Evans prosecuting said: ‘It seems these fraudsters would contacted victims in the UK who were selling consumer electronics online on various platforms including eBay, Facebook Market place and Whatsapp – and victims were persuaded to provide their items prior to payment being made.

‘They would be given a UK postal address to send the items to – from where the the conspirators could pick them up and sell them on for 100 per cent profit.

‘These goods were addressed to a fake ID and sent to various addresses with no identifiable link to the fraudsters.

‘There the goods would be collected and sold and the occupants of the addresses would get a cut. Azeez wasn’t necessarily the architect of the fraud but he provided his services as a sub-contractor.’

The court heard Azeez sold of the items through his brother’s electrical shop Eze TV in Wigan, Greater Manchester before passing on the profits to his fellow fraudsters after taking his own cut.

He was also linked to the setting up of 37 untraceable bank accounts in six different names which accepted crypto currency as part of the racket. He himself fielded £40,000 of illicit cash through his own account.

A total of 34 victims gave statements expressing their anger and frustration at being duped. The court heard other desperate sellers who sent out parcels were even ‘pressured’ into sending over money to the fraudsters when they were wrongly assured they would get their items back.

In mitigation defence counsel Miss Chloe Fordham said: ‘He came to the UK in 2013 as an asylum seeker and he has now been granted refugee status and that is a result of the threats he faces in Nigeria. He has indefinite leave to remain on the UK but whatever sentence he faces may result in his deportation and he fears that more than anything.

‘He was a law abiding person for four years after his arrival in the UK and as part of his asylum appeal, a detailed and thorough report was carried out by a professional organisation and it is insightful as to the troubles he faced in the past.

‘Mr Azeez was born into a Muslim family in Nigeria but the sad reality was he and his family were persecuted in Nigeria. He was exploited as a teenager and as an adult entered into a homosexual relationship and as a result of that he was targeted by Boko Haram and was told he was going to be killed.

‘On one occasion he was badly beaten and tortured and there are documents and photographs to back that up. There is no question as to whether his account was credible.

‘When the defendant arrived here, he was homeless and he then moved to Bolton with a male who also exploited him and he was later diagnosed with depression and PTSD. He now has three children in the UK by three different mothers and is married to the mother of the third child. He has parental responsibilities to all the children. He now now considers to himself to be bisexual.’

Miss Fordham added: ‘His involvement in these matters began when he thought was doing legitimate work delivering and collecting parcels but pressure was put on him to collect parcels which he knew contained items obtained through fraud.

‘Set against the background of someone who has been exploited, tortured and abused in the past he was not someone who was able to withstand such pressures. He was following instructions given by others and has since been receiving threats from the fraudsters via his partner and ex-partner about presumably not outing them.’

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