A gang who laundered thousands of pounds from a nationwide telephone banking scam have been given prison sentences.

The multi-million pound fraud saw elderly people and companies conned out of huge amounts of money when offenders used actors’ voices and fake dialling tones to convince their victims to hand over account security details over the phone.

A court heard that a business in Northern Ireland lost £1.47 million through the scam, while a firm in Aberdeen lost £1.5million and the Institute of Animal Health lost more than £700,000.

Elderly people were also personally targeted and also lost thousands, which sometimes included their life savings, prosecutors said.

Four men - Mohammed Ali, Alfas Miah, Asif Amin and Ravideep Singh - played no part in the phone calls or initial fraud but did help launder a total of more than £400,000 by allowing the cash to be transferred through their bank accounts.

Each of them have now been given prison sentences after they either pleaded guilty or were found guilty of transferring criminal property at Newcastle Crown Court.

The court was told the callers in the scam would ring their victims and convince them they were genuine bank officials before telling them their accounts had been targets of fraudulent activity.

Stephen Duffield, prosecuting, said the criminals would then tell the account holder to hang-up and call back but they kept the line open and used fake dialling tones and actors’ voices to pretend they were connecting to their real bank.

Judge Tim Gittins said it wasn’t just vulnerable pensioners who were targeted but “financially literate” senior officers within international companies.

He said: “In a sophisticated fashion, that is unusual, they used multiple actors and fake dialing tones to convince them [the victims] they were being transferred through various departments before persuading them it was safe to depart further security information and allow illicit withdrawals.”

The court was told once the criminals had access to the victims’ accounts, money would be moved out at “high speed” and then processed through various “mule” accounts to try and hide it from the authorities.

However, prosecutors accepted Ali, Miah, Amin and Singh were not involved in the phone calls and the initial fraud and were only involved by helping to launder the ill-gotten proceeds.

Ali, 24, of Hatfield Square, South Shields, was jailed for 18 months for laundering a total of £240,000 from the proceeds of numerous fraudulent transactions involving the companies in Ireland and Aberdeen and the life savings of an elderly man. He was found guilty by a jury.

Miah, 26 of Anderston Street, South Shields, was locked-up for 13 months for laundering £160,000, which included the life savings taken fraudulently from two elderly people. Miah was the only member of the gang who pleaded guilty to the charge against him.

Amin, 24, a former HMRC worker from Ebor Street, South Shields, was given a five-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, with a nine-month curfew after he transferred three sums totalling £4,000 into his account. He was found guilty by a jury.

Singh, 30, of Westmacott Drive, Middlesex, was jailed for eight months for laundering between £20,000 and £25,000, which included cash conned from two elderly women. He was also found guilty after trial.

Sentencing them, Judge Gittins said the men were “vital cogs” in the scam, which had brought “heartache and misery” to those affected.

He added: “You were all assisting in laundering the proceedings from fraudulent transactions, including money from savings from elderly people.

“Some of the victims lost millions. It was professional, planned and skilfully executed. You were all expecting, to a greater or lesser extent, some financial gain from what you did.”

The court was told all four men had stayed out of trouble since committing the offences.

Paul Currer, representing Miah, said he had made “significant life changes” since being arrested and had been working hard as a waiter.

The barrister added: “Mr Miah was drawn into the temptation of easy money.”

John Wilkinson, for Ali, said he had lost his dad at an early age and his offending was “out of character”. He also said Ali was at low risk of reoffending.

The court heard Amin continued to deny his part in the scam but was of previous good character, while dad-of-two Singh now accepted his role but had stayed out of trouble since.

Mr Duffield said that four men committed their offences between December 2012 and June 2015.