Burnley counterfeiter ordered to repay almost £47,000 he made through fraud

A counterfeiter who made almost £47,000 selling fake car and van service books online has been ordered to hand over his ill-gotten gains following action by Lancashire Trading Standards officers.

In April 2024, Gulab Mostofa, from Burnley, was jailed for 31 months at Burnley Crown Court.

Mr Mostofa appeared again at Burnley Crown Court on 14 February 2025 to face action under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The order to repay his criminal benefit brings to an end proceedings in which Mr Mostofa pleaded guilty to an offence of making or supplying articles for use in frauds, between March 2021 and August 2022.

His offending first came to Trading Standards officers' attention after several motor manufacturers reported that they had been able to buy counterfeit service books online.

On 26 July 2022, a representative of the Ford Motor Company bought a service booklet from the eBay seller SimpliLiving, which contained 11 service stamps alleging to be from the main Ford dealers in Exeter, Crewe and Sandbach. Neither the booklet nor the stamps it contained were genuine.

The following investigation revealed that he was offering hundreds of service books for sale for different manufacturers including Ford, Vauxhall and Renault. Each unstamped book typically cost £7-14. But, for an extra charge, books could be purchased already containing main-dealer stamps, allowing purchasers to fake their own service histories. Officers calculate that Mr Mostofa sold more than 2,200 service books, netting himself almost £47,000 in the process.

Inquiries led officers to Mr Mostofa's Burnley home. When interviewed he said that he bought his stock from someone he had found on Facebook marketplace, he paid in cash and did not get receipts. He admitted he had bought the fake garage stamps on eBay.

Speaking after last week's hearing, Councillor Michael Green, cabinet member for Health and Wellbeing at Lancashire County Council, said: "This has been a lengthy and complicated investigation requiring our Trading Standards officers to spend many hours wading through financial records to gain a full picture of Mr Mostofa's offending.

"I congratulate our team for their hard work and I'm pleased that the Court ordered this criminal to pay back his ill-gotten gains.

"Unfortunately, there is no concrete way of knowing how many service books were used to convince innocent purchasers of the bogus details they contained.   

"Selling fake goods is illegal and this is potentially very dangerous. Honest buyers could end up purchasing a car which appears to have an excellent service history and has been well cared for, when this is not true.

"Protecting consumers by removing illegal operators from the marketplace is vital to ensure that goods and services are real, will last or most importantly, that they will be safe to use. Our Trading Standards team will always take the strongest action possible against those who openly break the law.

"We encourage anyone who has concerns about the sale of any age-restricted products to report these to Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service helpline on 0808 223 1133."