How an Indian-origin woman ran a £500,000 'industrial scale' shoplifting scam across UK
Narinder Kaur
A 54-year-old Indian-origin woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing from over 1,000 shops across the UK and returning the stolen goods for over $641,507 (₹53.7 million or £500,000).
She was identified as Narinder Kaur alias Nina Tiara, a prolific shoplifter from Cleverton, Wiltshire.
The woman was found guilty in March 2023 of 25 offences, including fraud, possessing and transferring criminal property, and perverting the course of justice.
A thoroughly dishonest individual
Narinder Kaur would carry out the theft and fraudulent returns all across the UK. As per the BBC, she targeted stores inSolihull, Worcester, Cheltenham, Malvern, Shrewsbury, Cardiff, Trowbridge, Reading, Yeovil, and more.
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Between July 2015 and February 2019, Kaur deceived major retailers like Boots, Debenhams, Homebase, John Lewis, House of Fraser, Monsoon, M&S, and TK Maxx, and carried out over a thousand fraudulent transactions.
Judge Ian Lawrie KC, at Gloucester Crown Court, described Kaur as a "thoroughly dishonest individual" while sentencing her in her absence.
How did she manage to get away with fraud for such a long time?
Prosecutors during her trial revealed that Kaur had devised a method to exploit high street stores by claiming refunds for items she had stolen. She would return an item, claim to have lost the receipt, and simultaneously purchase a low-value item to obtain a receipt for both, thus securing fraudulent refunds.
In addition to defrauding retailers, Kaur scammed eight firms of solicitors by instructing them to sue her brother and using stolen credit cards to pay compensation, which was then forwarded to her.
She also attempted to defraud the Wiltshire Council of $9,493 (£7,400) by overpaying with stolen credit cards and then requesting a refund, claiming a payment error.
Kaur's criminal activities were meticulously planned and executed. She would hire cars to avoid detection and even resorted to creating fake identities to open new bank accounts after her accounts were closed due to suspicions.
West Mercia Police fraud investigator Steve Tristram described the case as the most "planned" and "sophisticated" operation he had ever encountered.
"This lady was operating on an industrial scale. This was a full-time job for her, six days a week - eight or nine hours a day," he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
