On the 1st & 2nd October 2015, three local males from the South Shields area have been charged and or reported for summons, with Money Laundering and are due to appear at South Tyneside Magistrates Court on the 3rd November 2015.

The charges stem from an investigation into vishing fraud, where companies and elderly victims, were defrauded in 2013. The value of the alleged laundered funds is in excess of two hundred thousand pounds.