July 30th 2024.
Narinder Kaur, also known by her alias Nina Tiara, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for her extensive shoplifting and refund fraud scheme. This woman made shoplifting her full-time career, traveling to various stores across the country and tricking over 1,000 retailers into giving her refunds for items she never actually purchased. Her actions were described as being on an "industrial" scale, as she managed to defraud stores such as Boots, Debenhams, John Lewis, Monsoon, House of Fraser, Homesense, TK Maxx, Homebase, and even tried to scam Wiltshire Council.
The prosecution presented evidence that Kaur had defrauded retailers over a thousand times between July 2015 and February 2019. Through a close examination of her bank and credit card accounts, it was revealed that she had received over £60,000 in refunds from Boots alone, despite only spending a fraction of that amount with the store. She also received large sums from other retailers, such as Debenhams, John Lewis, and Monsoon.
Kaur's modus operandi was to enter a store, select items from the shelves, and then falsely claim to have purchased them in order to obtain a refund. She would often repeat this process multiple times, receiving refunds for the same items. She was caught on CCTV numerous times, with footage showing her taking items to the tills and presenting false receipts to store employees.
In addition to her fraudulent activities in stores, Kaur also attempted to defraud Wiltshire Council by overpaying with stolen credit cards and then requesting a refund. She also went to great lengths to avoid being convicted of other offenses, such as lying to the court and producing false documentation.
During police searches of her home, around £150,000 in cash was found hidden away, along with stolen goods. Steve Tristram, a fraud investigator for West Mercia Police, described Kaur as "the most dishonest person" he had encountered in his 40 years of policing. He also noted that her actions had exposed loopholes in store till systems, which have since been closed.
In sentencing Kaur, Judge Ian Lawrie KC labeled her as a "thoroughly dishonest individual" and gave her a 10-year prison sentence. He also highlighted the significant amount of money she was managing to obtain through her fraudulent activities, stating that "£2,000 a week is a lot of money."
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