 A woman who stole nearly £1,000,000 from her employers to give to a man who didn't even exist after being duped by a romance fraudster has now been jailed. Manjit Singh, 60, transferred £958,180 from the accounts of her bosses at Lei Dat & Baig solicitors in Liverpool to another she believed belonged to Ravi Jani after meeting on a dating site. The city's crown court heard Singh's personal circumstances made her 'ripe for exploitation' and she fell 'under his spell' after he promised to come to the UK to marry her. But before he could travel, he told her he needed money to ship equipment over from Dubai, where he claimed to have been working. Jailing Singh, of Toxteth, for two years after she admitted eight counts of fraud, Judge David Aubrey KC said: 'Not only were you a fraudster, you were also a victim of a fraud and what has rightly been called a romance fraud. 'You were duped and were yourself subject of a classic online con. You did not receive one penny for that which you did dishonestly and at the time is quite apparent you had been exploited.' The judge went on: 'You had gone on a site for those who wish to get married and there you 'met' the devious and so-called Ravi Jani. 'He inveigled his way into your life, you were accommodating, indeed, in my judgement you were in awe. 'You were under his spell while he spun a yarn to you because you were seeking marriage. There was never going to be any sailing into the sunset with him.' Peter Killen, prosecuting, told the court Singh joined the legal firm back in 2014 as a volunteer on IT systems. By 2017, she had become a full-time employee and by 2019 was working on cases and had been trained to transfer money between client and office amounts and make payments under the supervision of owner Naeem Baig. When Mr Baig checked his business account late on October 6, 2021, he was shocked to find the expected balanc){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
A woman who stole nearly £1,000,000 from her employers to give to a man who didn’t even exist after being duped by a romance fraudster has now been jailed.
Manjit Singh, 60, transferred £958,180 from the accounts of her bosses at Lei Dat & Baig solicitors in Liverpool to another she believed belonged to Ravi Jani after meeting on a dating site.
The city’s crown court heard Singh’s personal circumstances made her ‘ripe for exploitation’ and she fell ‘under his spell’ after he promised to come to the UK to marry her.
But before he could travel, he told her he needed money to ship equipment over from Dubai, where he claimed to have been working.