Reseller Gone Bad: £123K Fraudulent Filcher Found

Nisa-Today's Member Support Centre in Scunthorpe, UK

The reseller market has felt a few shockwaves recently after Bytes Software and Nettitude were jointly linked to a fraudulent conspiracy worth £123,000 perpetrated by Lincolnshire-based grocery co-operative Nisa Today.

Nisa employee Trevor Guerin reportedly snitched and filched his way into gaining laptops and a variety of other electronic devices as well as £50,000 in cash.

Guerin then set up a system of fake invoices with hiked prices, which were paid by Aatish Dudani of Bytes Software and Barry Hesk of Nettitude into holding company accounts that Guerin had established.

Tried in Grimsby Crown Court, prosecutors found that Guerin had managed Nisa funds to pay the inflated prices for the goods in question, not all of which were ever ultimately delivered.

According to local news sources, Judge Simon Jack said Guerin had been placed in a position of trust and,

“People who deal with IT procurement are relied upon because most people do not know what software is required. They need you to tell them what they need and what it costs. If you are dishonest you will get away with it. That was the temptation. You realised you could make a substantial amount of money buying software that did not exist or was inflated (in price).”

It is understood that all the proceeds of the fraud have now been recovered in full.

Bytes managing director Neil Murphy has told media sources that at no point did his company benefit financially from any of the fraudulent transactions carried out. In fairness to Murphy and his company brand, this is an exceptional incident that appears to have been perpetrated by what should certainly be classified as a “rouge employee” in this instance.

The same pedigree can be said of Nettitude, for whom this is something of a shock.

All the men received judgments from community orders, to suspended sentences with Guerin himself being jailed for two years.

The ITAM Review contacted Bytes directly only to find that the company declined to comment further.

Editorial Comment: While we understand Bytes desire to distance itself from what is essentially a negative story, we find it somewhat disappointing that the company did not take the opportunity to further highlight the value (and need for) visibility, traceability and transparency in IT procurement practices for IT asset managers at all levels, in all industries in all types of companies.