A convicted con woman from Northfield who ran online scams to fund her lifestyle is now behind bars after spending more than two years on the run in Turkey.
Leah Farley is now behind bars after surrendering herself to West Midlands Police at Birmingham Airport yesterday (Thursday 27th February).
Originally arrested in October 2015 for her part in online scams that saw mobile phone buyers and house hunters duped out of £17,500, Farley fled the country just days before she was due to be sentenced.
Along with two friends, Farley used fake Facebook accounts to claim to be selling iPhones and other mobiles at knockdown prices, saying they had contacts who bought them cheaply at police auctions.
Over an 18 month period starting in October 2013, a total of 34 people fell for their scam and handed over payments for mobile phones they never came to receive – some paying more than £1000.
In a second online scam, Farley claimed to be a landlord offering properties to rent. In 2015 she conned four people into handing over deposits of around £1,000 to secure flats advertised on the website Open Rent.
However, none of the rentals existed and some of the house hunters only realised they’d been scammed as they prepared to move in.
And while they were left desperately trying to find emergency accommodation, callous Farley used their cash to book a week-long family holiday to Salou in Spain.
Following Farley’s arrest in October 2015, investigators found damning evidence on her phone including property rental agreement forms, text messages from victims and links to several email accounts and Facebook profiles she created to give the impression she ran a mobile phone sales business.
She went on to admit fraud but days before she was due to be sentenced, in Autumn 2017, Farley fled to Turkey where she has family. In her absence, she was handed a to 44 month prison sentence at Birmingham Crown Court on 14 November 2017. She was also ordered to repay the full amount of her ill-gotten gains.
Officers began extradition proceedings after managing to track Farley down, but she returned to the UK of her own accord last night, surrendering to police at the airport.
She was set to appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court today.
Detective Constable Richard Potts from West Midlands Police’s Economic Crime Unit described Farley as greedy and said she committed the offences purely to fund her lifestyle.
He added: “This was a fairly basic scam in that she was taking money for products she simply didn’t own – but she created a wealth of bogus online profiles to give the impression she was a genuine online seller.
“She harvested personal information from a woman who suffered a burglary several years ago in which her passport was stolen. Farley came into possession of that passport and effectively stole her identity.
“Farley callously persuaded family members and friends to take payments for her into their own bank accounts so they were unwittingly helping her launder crime proceeds.
“And she was still claiming state benefits like child support on top of the thousands she was cunning out of victims.”
DC Potts said all of the house hunters handed over big deposits without seeing the property they were interested in renting.
He added: “It’s really important before parting with large sums of money that people do their due diligence. Some victims gave Farley £1,000 on the back of photos posted online and a ‘pleasant’ phone conversation.
“Fraudsters are good at what they do; one of Farley ’s tricks was to tell customers there was another tenant waiting to move in and the only way to secure the agreement was to make full payment immediately into a specified bank account.
“It sounds obvious but never pay money to a person you’ve not met and whose identity is not verified. Use trusted websites and their suggested payment methods. Go and visit the premise you are interested in and get to know the estate agents.”