Mohammed Arshad Ajmal, aged 40 and from Ilford, London, was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on 31 July 2020 to eight years in prison after admitting seven charges of fraud by false representation and 14 offences of converting and transferring criminal property.

He returned to the same court on 5 November 2021 for a hearing to consider an application under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).

Ajmal scammed a couple aged in their 70s out of large amounts of money by posing as a police officer over the phone and persuading them to transfer money.

He was charged and sentenced following a detailed investigation by Dorset Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team.

At the POCA hearing, the court ruled that the total benefit figure from his offending was £848,263.67 and a confiscation order was made to cover the full amount.

A further compensation order was made for £124,108.95 to cover a tax bill incurred by the victims during the commission of the offence.

A total of £821,702.53 will be recovered from the defendant’s bank account, after it was identified and his assets were frozen during the investigation.

Ajmal has three months to pay the outstanding funds or he will face a default sentence of six years in prison on top of his original conviction.

Detective Constable Scott Brimicombe, of Dorset Police’s Economic Crime Unit, said: “We are committed to using legislation available to us under the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure that offenders who benefit from their crimes have their assets taken from them and victims are properly compensated.

“This case involved large sums of money and we have worked extensively to identify the defendant’s assets and freeze his account, meaning we have successfully ensured that the majority of the funds can be recovered almost immediately.”