Salford sisters jailed for passport tax scam worth over 拢320k

Image source, HMRC

Image caption, The sisters used jobs at Selfridges and Manchester Airport to submit bogus VAT claims

Three sisters who used stolen passport details to a duty free shopping scam worth over 拢320,000 have been jailed.

Yuan Ting Yue, 27, copied tourists' details, given to reclaim VAT, while working at Selfridges in Manchester, which she used to make 407 fake claims.

The claims were made by her sisters Yuan Yee Yue, 32, and Yuan Ling Yue, 29, at the city's airport, where they worked on duty free counters.

At Manchester Crown Court, they admitted fraud by false representation.

'Cynically exploited'

The sisters, all of Welwyn Drive, Swinton in Salford, fraudulently claimed 拢239,794 between June 2016 and February 2017 and had requested a further 拢83,455.

An HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) spokeswoman said UK Border Force became suspicious when a high volume of claims were found to be being paid to the same bank accounts via a scheme which allows overseas visitors to reclaim VAT on shopping.

When HMRC officers searched the sisters' home in April 2017, they found a spreadsheet on Yuan Ting Yue's laptop, detailing payments to nine family members.

She was jailed for two years ands six months, while her sisters were each sentenced to 15 months in prison.

HMRC's Paul Maybury said the 27-year-old had "cynically exploited her position of trust" and her sisters had been "fully complicit in the deception".