West London man jailed for three and a half years after making £2.7m from 200,000 fake vinyl records

From the Newshound archive · first published 21 September 2026 · last updated 22 September 2026.

Rehan Ahmed, 40, of Southall, spent seven years flooding the market with counterfeit albums by The Beatles, Madonna, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, generating an estimated £2.7 million. Operating from a plant in Acton using 70-year-old pressing equipment, he distributed fake records to shops, high street retailers and private collectors. City of London Police moved on the site after the British Phonographic Industry made a test purchase, seizing close to 3,000 records and 18 tons of equipment in the UK's biggest-ever counterfeit vinyl haul.

Ahmed was convicted at Inner London Crown Court of masterminding 'a long-running, highly-organised operation' trading as Phoenix of Vinyl.

The BPI's Peter Ratcliffe said the conviction will not recover 'tens of millions of pounds leeched from artists, labels and retailers.'

The Acton raid turned up four vintage vinyl presses along with 3,000 metal stampers — a find set in motion entirely by a single BPI test purchase.