Woman who stole from her employer and gave money to a romance fraudster to pay back more than £600,000

Ilyiea Ali, who lived in Birmingham at the time of her offence, had been jailed for 30 months in 2018 for stealing from Information Security Forum Ltd (ISF) in 2015.

At the original court hearing, it was revealed she had given half the money to a romance fraudster from Bradford, Tahmoor Khan, who was jailed for eight-and-a-half years in October 2016. He conned his victims out of large sums of money by posing as a successful businessman despite running up thousands of pounds in gambling debts.

A compensation order to the value of £662,727 was made against Ali on October 8 at Bradford Crown Court.

Ramona Senior, head of West Yorkshire Police’s economic crime unit, said: “This is a serious reminder that we will seek to recover any proceeds that individuals make from crime, and work hard to ensure that victims, whether they be individuals or organisations, are compensated.

“The debt will remain with Ali until it is repaid.

“Our statistics show that romance fraud can happen to anyone – with victims of all ages, sexes and professions targeted by the sophisticated criminals.

“By knowing how to spot potential signs people can reduce their chances of being a victim and that is why we, as a force, are showing our support for this campaign.”

It comes as it was revealed that more than £3m has been stolen from people in Yorkshire by romance scammers in the space of a year.