A woman has been sentenced after being part of a gang who tricked victims into transferring £1.7m into their accounts.

Nishma Bharadia, of Taunton Way, Stanmore, was given a 14-month prison term, suspended for two years, after being convicted at Woolwich Crown Court for money laundering offences.

The 29-year-old was also ordered to pay £5,140 in fines and given a three month curfew.

The gang of ten concocted a scam where people were tricked into changing a direct debit, standing order or bank transfer mandate by those pretending to be from an organisation.

Between January 2011 and December 2013, the group of five men and six women gained £1.7m.

Up to 17 victims were identified - a mixture of both companies and individuals based in the UK, Sweden, Nigeria, Mauritius, France, Switzerland and the United States, after the criminal activity was uncovered in June 2013.

Officers had found money being quickly moved on through several accounts that were controlled by members of the criminal network.

The money was then withdrawn as large amounts of untraceable cash from branches or cash machines.

Detective Sergeant Kevin Jackson, of the Metropolitan Police’s criminal finance team said: "Members of the public and organisations need to be very careful when moving and transferring money.

“Many of the victims linked to this case were tricked into sending money to criminals' accounts after they were sent a spoof email with change of payment details.

"Always verify changes to financial arrangements with the organisation or person directly on the phone, or go via the company's main switchboard to check if an email is genuine.

"Trust your instincts and always check before transferring the money, because it will be extremely difficult to recover once you've sent it."