The National Trading Standards e-Crime Team has successfully prosecuted two men for offences under s.9 of the Fraud Act 2006. The men operated over 40 websites which misled members of the public by posing as government websites. Consumers were misled into paying for government services at inflated rates, including TfL tolls, fishing licenses, and the Dartford Crossing charge.
On 31 October 2025, Thomas Gall was sentenced to four and a half years in prison – a sentence which also reflected his unrelated theft of over £500,000 from an advertising company of which he had been a director. He was also disqualified from acting as a company director for 10 years. Shezad Parvez was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, and disqualified as a company director for six years.
The case drew national media attention in 2019 but took six years to reach its resolution in the Crown Court in 2025.
Stuart Jessop and Robin Kingham were instructed to prosecute on behalf of the NTS e-Crime Team, hosted by the City of York. Robin Kingham was separately instructed to prosecute Thomas Gall on behalf of the CPS in relation to the theft charge.
