Fraud victim, 80, died before trading standards could return £68,000 of stolen money to her

North Yorkshire County Council has joined forces with law enforcement agencies to seize the profits which rogue traders and other offenders have made through illegal operations.

Elderly victims have lost their life savings to the criminals, but the council has revealed that trading standards officers have managed to return the bulk of the cash in the latest legal challenge.

In the latest case, the 80-year-old victim from Scarborough was unable to see justice as she died before £68,000 of the £94,500 stolen from her could be returned.

But her relatives were so grateful that when a trading standards officer contacted a niece to say the money was being returned, she was initially unable to speak because she was in tears.

The council’s assistant director for trading standards, Matt O’Neill, said: “We have been able to return more than £68,000 to her niece because her aunt sadly died before we were successful with the prosecution.

“We had the pleasure of ringing family members when the court case happened and her niece was unable to speak for a couple of minutes because she was so overwhelmed. She wanted to say how much it meant to the family for them to get justice for her aunt.”

In total, Operation Gauntlet accounted for £140,000 which the courts ordered offenders to give up under the Proceeds of Crime Act, which was introduced in 2002.

As much as £53,000 of that has just been received by the authorities, allowing some of those defrauded to get their money back.

Coun Andrew Lee, the county council’s executive member for trading standards, said: “It is important for public confidence to know that criminals have not been left with financial benefits from their offending.

“But it is even more important that those who had lost their precious savings have seen money returned to them. That is what the legislation was intended to achieve.”