The Scots mastermind behind Britain’s biggest cyber scam claims he has been on a ‘spiritual journey’ in prison since he was locked up nine years ago.
Feezan Hameed Choudhary, 33, was jailed for 11 years in 2016 for leading a fraudulent enterprise that conned 750 RBS and Lloyds customers out of £113million.
The brazen crook splashed the stolen cash on parties with pop stars, luxury holidays in Dubai and shopping sprees at Harrods.
Cash was transferred out of victims’ accounts after crooks convinced them to reveal their details by posing as staff from anti-fraud departments – a scam known as voice phishing, or ‘vishing’.
Glasgow-based Hameed – who personally raked in at least £6.5m – was nicknamed The Voice because he put on Scottish, Welsh and English accents to dupe victims.
Feezan Hameed Choudhary on a Dubai holiday where he posed with a tiger
Prosecutors have been trying to claw back cash from him and allege he still has assets, including a property worth more than £1m in Pakistan.
So far, Hameed has paid back £773,443 but claims he has nothing left.
Andrew Bird, defending, said the value of the Pakistani Rupee had dropped significantly, and that any assets that Hameed does have would be worth less.
Hameed also has a family house in Glasgow worth £103,000, the court heard.
Mr Bird said: ‘It seems that there is an agreement that it has devalued because the condition of the house has depreciated.’
During the hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, it emerged Hameed has been asked to take part in a TV documentary.
The court heard the production company making the show have a policy of not paying criminals so have instead offered to pay the £50,000 fee he would have received against his order.
During the proceedings Hameed told Southwark Crown Court he has been on a ‘spiritual journey’ after meeting an Iman in prison.
He said: ‘It’s been nine years. I’ve lost a lot. I have been on a spiritual journey’
‘Money is not everything. This is not happiness. It’s fake happiness.
‘I could have got married and had kids.’
Choudhary spent millions on supercars, Harrods shopping sprees and parties with popstars
The conman’s ‘vishing’ scam was smashed in a series of police raids in Glasgow and the West Midlands.
Hameed had posed with a tiger in an Instagram photoshoot and mixed with celebrities, producing a music video for Pakistani popstar Bilal Saeed.
He became so rich he gloated that he could afford a team of valets to polish his fleet of custom Porsches.
Hameed owned several luxury motors including a Bentley and a Lamborghini after the scam made more than £3million a month.
In 2017 he was jailed for a further two-and-a-half years for running an identical scam run from his prison cell.
The confiscation hearing continues.
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