Vinyl forger jailed after making over £2.7 million from fake records

A vinyl forger has been jailed after he made more than £2.7 million by selling thousands of fake records from artists such as The Beatles and Taylor Swift, which were made at an industrial site in London.

Police discovered the largest recorded haul of fake vinyl in the UK at the site in Acton, which includes 2,791 records by 108 different artists.

Among them were records by Beyoncé, Adele, Bad Bunny, Rihanna, Drake and Ariana Grande. They also seized 3,000 metal stampers and label sleeves, which accounted for 18 tonnes of evidence.

Rehan Ahmed, 40, of Southall, was arrested and jailed for three-and-a-half years on Friday for what was described as “a highly organised and entirely unlicensed manufacturing operation”.

He ran the operation under the company name Phoenix of Vinyl and generated £2,743,000 through the sale of counterfeit vinyl records between 2017 and 2024.

Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt, from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) at the City of London Police, said: “Rehan Ahmed exploited artists and the wider music industry, taking advantage of the resurgence in vinyl records for his own gain. We will continue to pursue criminals who target the creative industries and bring them to justice when they do. “This case should send a clear message to anyone selling counterfeit vinyl, it is illegal and we will take action.”

Peter Ratcliffe, BPI Director of Content Protection, said: “This conviction is hugely significant, and we thank our partners in this investigation, PIPCU and our label members, for their valued efforts over many months to bring about this welcome outcome. Sadly, it won’t return the tens of millions of pounds that we estimate have been leeched from artists, the record labels that support them, and the retail community that sells their music, but at least this major criminal operation has now been closed down and it sends a clear signal to other counterfeiters who are exploiting music that we are coming after them.”

He added: “With music on physical formats enjoying a resurgence, the market in counterfeit records has unfortunately also been growing as criminals cash in at the expense of creators and fans. This doesn’t just impact the legal music economy and everyone that works and invests in it – it also affects every one of us as citizens who fall victim to other forms of criminality that it funds. It is vital that we put a stop to it and working with our members, PIPCU, trading standards and other authorities we are absolutely focused on doing just that.”