UK man jailed for four years over £708,750 fake Gift Aid claims using 716 donors

A UK man has been jailed for four years and eight months after inventing hundreds of charitable donations to fraudulently claim £708,750 from the government through the Gift Aid scheme. Abdul Muttakin Robbani, 54, from Chelmsford, submitted 60 false claims through his organisation, RMI Club, naming 716 people as donors despite them never having made the contributions. According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), many of those named had only completed online surveys for small payments and did not know the organisation. Robbani used the proceeds to pay off mortgages and personal and family debts.How did Robbani use fake donors to claim £708,750 from the governmentAccording to the CPS, Robbani's false claims identified 716 individuals as donors who had supposedly contributed between £5,000 and £10,000 each to RMI Club. However, the people whose names appeared on the claims had not made any such donations. Many of them had simply completed an online survey in return for a small payment and did not know RMI Club.Robbani told HMRC that the individuals had been recruited through a marketing survey called the 'Sigma Social Impact Programme'. The programme was linked to a cryptocurrenc...