Altia helps bring ‘rogue trader’ to justice

A con man who robbed elderly home-owners of more than £122,000 has been jailed for six years following a major investigation by West Sussex County Council’s Trading Standards team using Altia software.

Targeting vulnerable homeowners with a fake energy scheme

Sacha Dixey used the business names Future Homes Energy Ltd and Nationwide Home Renewables. He offered eco-friendly heating systems to vulnerable elderly people. Typically, he obtained deposits of £3,500 per person from his victims. He then failed to return and install the heating systems, and he did not answer their calls requesting a refund.

In some cases, Dixey did install the heating systems. He told his victims they would get money back from the government for installing the energy-saving equipment. However, he knew his companies had never registered for the Government’s incentive scheme. As a result, his customers could not claim a penny in government grants.

Some pensioners lost up to £17,000

He used various false names to return to his original victims and carry out further fraud. In one case, he defrauded a 77-year-old blind man twice. West Sussex County Council Trading Standards launched an investigation. This followed almost 100 complaints from members of the public in West Sussex.

In Tina Keartland’s words

Tina Keartland of West Sussex County Council’s Trading Standards division said:

“We used Altia software to enable us to compile a robust portfolio of evidence against this man. The software enables us to aggregate huge volumes of paper-based and electronic data into a standard format. It also helps us demonstrate links between separate items of evidence. The speed and accuracy of this specialist software allows us to pinpoint the crucial pieces of evidence. This will underpin a prosecution. In this case we were able to show that he had acted with deliberate intent to defraud. This was a particularly satisfying case to prosecute because of the heartless way he targeted vulnerable people. We hope that the prison sentence handed down will deter other criminals from attempting similar frauds.”

A guilty plea on 31 counts

Dixey pleaded guilty to 31 counts. These fell under the Fraud Act, the Companies Act and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations. Trading Standards and Sussex Police brought the prosecution together.

Rogue traders and the wider caseload

Tina Keartland continued:

“Altia Toolkit and Toolbar are the two vital products we use every day to speed up our investigations. More importantly, many investigations simply would not reach a conclusion if we didn’t have this technology. Currently, rogue traders account for about 40% of our cases. The other 60% relate to safety issues or counterfeit products, such as fake toys, unsafe phone chargers, and counterfeit branded clothing.

“We are a very busy department, and Gatwick Airport is within our jurisdiction. This is, in some instances, a point of arrival for counterfeit products. Public safety and prevention of crime are our priorities. The unsafe phone chargers we are currently confiscating are quite dangerous to anyone attempting to use them. In many cases where we have used Altia Toolkit, we can refund some or all of the victims’ money. This happens under the Proceeds of Crime Act, where we establish the trail of transactions. We can then show definitively that a rogue trader has profited from a scam.”