A Man Was Given A Five-Year Prison Sentence After Creating More Than 1,000 Fake Betting Accounts
A man who created fake online betting accounts by using the names of other individuals was sentenced to five years in prison.
After a four-week trial in March, Jon Howard, 40, was found guilty on two charges of conspiring to defraud bet365 and the Santander bank but not money laundering.
Police responded to Howard's final sentencing at Basildon Crown Court by describing the process of determining his criminal acts as "lengthy and complex."
Howard insisted on his innocence, but the court was informed that his actions go back to 2008 and that, by the time police searched his home in February 2019, he had opened more than 1,000 accounts in other people's identities.
The prosecution described how victims readily gave Howard access to their information, which he exploited to register accounts with bet365 in their names and take advantage of new customer bonuses. Following a Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate-led investigation, the prosecution claimed that he had made $236,000 in profits.
Detective Sergeant Mike Monkton said, "Betting online in someone else's name is against the terms of use. The whole enterprise was dishonest and designed to deceive the gambling company."
"When we were notified in 2018, we embarked upon a lengthy and complex investigation that took some time to unravel. When we executed a warrant at Jon Howard's address in February 2019, it was evident that this was set up to look like any other legal business.
"Hours were spent trawling through paperwork in different names, receipts for luxury items, bank books and 177 sim cards that were seized from the address. Substantial sums of money were involved."
Daniel Gorman, a co-defendant, was found not guilty of money laundering but received a 16-month sentence with a 12-month suspension for conspiring to conduct fraud.
