Jailed: Dudley fraudster who 'sold' tractors he didn't own to Canadian buyer in £130,000 scam

A fraudster from Dudley who was involved in a transatlantic tractor scam worth more than £130,000 has been jailed.

Augustin-Paul Ciceu was running a transport firm which was initially approached to ship one tractor from Europe to Canada in March 2020.

The 52-year-old then offered the legitimate Canadian purchaser two more tractors for sale and the transaction was agreed and money paid.

The fraudster, who referred to himself as 'Gus' during trade dealing, claimed he had waited to send all three tractors together.

However, he failed to send any farming equipment leaving for North America and it was reported to West Midlands Police.

Officers discovered they had never left the country and Ciceu didn't even own the tractors he claimed to have 'sold'.

A video he sent to the Candaian purchaser instead showed tractors which belong to someone else.

Ciceu, of High Street, Dudley, was convicted of theft of the tractor which was never shipped and two counts of fraud by false representation in connection with the others he had sold without owning.

He was sentenced to a year and nine months in prison at Wolverhampton Crown Court on November 8.

West Midlands Police said it is now looking to retrieve the ill-gotten gains. 

DC Ash Forster, who led the investigation at the force, said: “Ciceu took advantage of what should have been a legitimate shipping transaction to trick the trader into purchasing tractors he didn’t even have to sell, and claimed it was a business transaction that was never completed.

“This was a complex investigation and we worked with the victim, who travelled over from Canada for the trial, to build a convincing case. We will leave no stone unturned to convict criminals.”