Lancaster student jailed for attempting to steal nearly £50,000 from university applicants

A former Lancaster student who tried to scam foreign applicants to UK universities of almost £50,000 has been jailed.

Sibtain Hussain utilised stolen data from Lancaster University, where he had began studying in 2017, and used the data to target around 200 individuals by phone and email.

Hussain posed as a university official, demanding payments from victims for proof of “financial capability”, “student services”, deposits for accommodation.

The scam resulted in over £48,000 being sent by 23 students, and according to the National Crime Agency (NCA), Hussain utilised multiple phone numbers, email addresses, aliases and bank accounts to evade detection.

However, it has been reported that a large majority of the payments where blocked by banks.

The NCA said, had the fraud been successful, it could have generated more than £493,000 in illegal revenue.

The unauthorised access to Lancaster University’s internal system took place in 2018, the university reported the data breach to the NCA in July 2019 after reports of scam targeting from students.

After a subsequent investigation, Hussain was arrested in July 2019 in Bradford, with two mobile phones and a wallet that linked him to the crime being seized.

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Lancaster University immediately reported the data breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office, and launched an internal investigation. Furthermore, additional security measures were implemented and the university  provided support to impacted students.

The 32-year-old initially denied the charges of fraud, but later plead guilty at Leeds Crown Court in October 2025. He has been sentenced to four and half years imprisonment for fraud and 12 months for money laundering.

A Lancaster University spokesperson said: “Lancaster University welcomes news of this sentencing on behalf of the victims of cyber-crime.

“Data protection is of the utmost importance to us and the University has significant guardrails in place to protect our community. Following the 2019 incident, and throughout the intervening seven years, the University has materially strengthened its security controls and monitoring capabilities.

“This stronger posture continues to be developed as part of our ongoing commitment to improving cyber security resilience.”

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Featured image via NCA