Fake vinyls: UK's biggest fraud gets a prison term
Rehan Ahmed was sentenced to three and a half years for a network that forged thousands of records. The operation, under the names Phoenix of Vinyl and Paragon Music, made £2.7 million.
Police uncovered that, trading as Phoenix of Vinyl and Paragon Music, he sold counterfeit records to shops and online sellers, earning £2.7 million over seven years. A raid in February 2024 seized 2,791 vinyl records along with production gear such as stampers and lacquer. The forgeries included albums by Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar and The Beatles, infringing the copyrights of 108 artists. The sentencing comes as vinyl sales hit an 18‑year high, with the Entertainment and Retail Association reporting that 41.2 % of all records are now sold in physical stores. BPI Director of Content Protection Peter Ratcliffe warned that the resurgence of physical formats is also fueling a rise in counterfeit operations.
