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One small business which is part of franchise, told the BBC that they lost access to their account when another franchisee gained a blue-tick verification.

The Wall Street Journal, for example, quoted one restaurant owner saying he had raised menu prices by 10%, and a McDonald’s franchisee fretting about losing his customer base if he had to raise the price of a Happy Meal to $20.

It said the current franchisee - Ahmet Mustafa - had only been “exposed to the full depth of these horrific, complex and sophisticated crimes” in the course of his co-operating with police and the prosecution.

In April, it bought back more than 750 stores from a franchisee in Australia.

They had visited the Costa Coffee branch in Station Parade, Barking, owned and operated by a franchisee, to buy two soya hot chocolates before Hannah attended the dentist.