Fraudsters Jailed For Convincing 77 Year-Old Man To Hand Over Thousands Of Pounds

Three Years: Hussein

Two heartless fraudsters, who convinced a vulnerable pensioner to hand over thousands of pounds, have been jailed after bank staff realised their customer was being scammed.

Mohammed Hussein, 23, of Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell received three years and Yasen Ahmed, 21, of Durham Road, Luton received two years.

They were convicted at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court of conspiring to defraud the 77 year-old man who made two large withdrawls from his account and then £10,000 cash on the same day.

The court had heard how on March 26 the pensioner entered his bank in Richmond town centre and asked to withdraw £10,000 from his account.

The bank-staff became concerned when they noticed that the elderly gentlemen had made two earlier large withdrawals from his bank that same day.

The staff at the bank called police, as they were afraid he might be the victim of a crime.

When police arrived the elderly man told them that the day before he had received a phone call purporting to be from a well known department store.

The store told him they were checking as his credit card had been used to buy a large quantity of goods, but in reality he was talking to the defendants.

Two Years: Ahmed

When he put the phone down the pensioner phoned his bank and was surprised to get through straight away.

In fact he was talking to an accomplice of the original man who had simply not hung up the phone to keep the phone line open.

The bogus bank staff told him to withdraw his money and not to mention the reason to any staff working at his bank.

Police explained that this was an attempt to defraud him and accompanied the victim back to his home.

While police were at his home he received another call from the fraudsters, who asked if he had withdrawn the money and suggested that he place his cash in a box for a courier to collect.

However, he turned the tables by pretending to go along with the fraud and send the money.

When a taxi driver arrived to collect the cash police spoke to the driver and told him he was being used to commit a fraud.

The driver gave the address he had been told take the box and a police officer went in the cab; followed by officers in an unmarked car.

When the taxi arrived in Warner Street, Clerkenwell it was met by two men.

Kamal Hussein leaned into the front passenger window and asked for the package.

He was quickly arrested while his accomplice Yasen Ahmed ran and was chased and caught by officers.

Detective Constable Becky Springford of Kingston CID said. “This sort of offence is all too common and the victims are usually the elderly or vulnerable.

“It was only by the bank staff being alert that this man did not loose his savings.

“Thankfully, with the cooperation of their potential victim, police were able to turn the tables on these men.

“This was a despicable crime that tried to steal money from a man who had saved for his old age.

“In these circumstances the prison sentence is totally justified.”