UK Covid loan fraud: Indian-origin woman jailed for £216,250 scam

London,UPDATED: Jul 18, 2026 16:00 IST

An Indian-origin woman has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison in the UK for fraudulently obtaining five government-backed Covid-19 business support loans worth a total of £216,250. Rupali Wagh, 50, pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud over Bounce Back Loan applications made between May and September 2020.

Authorities said Wagh inflated the turnover of four companies to secure the loans and then used some of the money for personal debts as well as stocks and shares, in breach of the scheme's terms. The Insolvency Service said it is now seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the UK's Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Wagh, a businesswoman based in Wales, pleaded guilty at Cardiff Crown Court in November last year and was sentenced at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on Friday. David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: "Rupali Wagh systematically targeted a scheme designed to help genuine businesses survive the pandemic. She lied about her turnover, obtained duplicate loans for the same businesses, and used the funds to pay off personal debts and buy stocks and shares. When confronted with the evidence, Wagh initially tried to blame someone else before admitting she had acted alone." He added: "These are serious crimes and the Insolvency Service remains committed to bringing COVID fraudsters like Wagh to justice no matter how long it takes."

According to the Insolvency Service, Wagh's first fraudulent application came in May 2020, when she sought a £16,250 Bounce Back Loan for One2Four Accounting Ltd, a bookkeeping services company she had set up in June 2018. She declared a turnover of £65,000 and said the money would be used wholly for business purposes. The agency said the company's actual turnover for the previous calendar year was £39,000, and that within weeks of receiving the money, Wagh moved it to her personal bank account and spent most of it on debts and stocks and shares.

In June 2020, Wagh applied for the maximum £50,000 loan for Talensetu UK Ltd, claiming the business had a turnover of £218,000, although dormant accounts filed for the previous year showed it was not trading. The Insolvency Service said she transferred the entire amount to her personal account within days, used it for personal finance and stocks and shares, and sent more than £25,000 to an account in India. In July 2020, she applied for a second £50,000 Bounce Back Loan for the same company from a different bank, claiming a turnover of £225,000 and falsely stating that it was the company's only such application. After receiving the money in August, she again moved almost all of it to her personal account and spent it on stocks and shares and personal finance.

The agency said Wagh then made a fourth fraudulent application in August 2020, seeking £50,000 for White Coconut Ltd, which traded as an Indian street food outlet in Cardiff. She claimed a turnover of £252,000, despite having given a £72,000 estimate on her bank account application, and falsely declared it was the company's only Bounce Back Loan application even though she had already secured £18,000 from the bank for the same business three months earlier. Her final application, in September 2020, was for £50,000 for Indian Canteen Ltd, a street food business incorporated in January that year. She claimed a turnover of £206,000 even though she had estimated on her bank account application that the company's turnover for the next year would be £82,000. The Insolvency Service said she later transferred more than £25,000 of that loan to White Coconut Ltd.

During interviews, Wagh initially claimed that someone else who shared her computer had made one of the applications without her knowledge, but later withdrew that account and admitted that "she had acted alone". The agency said she also admitted using the money to clear personal credit card debts and loans, saying she believed that paying off her personal debts would help her businesses. The case centres on five fraudulent applications across four companies, with investigators now moving to recover the money.

With PTI Inputs

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