Company Boss Jailed For Scamming 78 Year-Old Pensioner Out Of £30K

A Glasgow company director, who defrauded a 78 year-old woman out of nearly £30,000 during a convincing telephone scam – laundering over half the proceeds through his firm – has received three years.

Nasrullah Mohammed, 55, of Leven Street, Pollokshields withdrew another £9,500 in cash from a Post Office in St. Vincent Street and took further sums from ATMS around the city.

He was convicted at south-west London's Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court to defrauding Mary Black by falsely representing she should make a £29,474 transfer from her Halifax account to his RBS account between December 19 and 24, 2013.

Mohammed was also found guilty by the jury of transferring criminal property, namely £17,375, from his RBS account to the account of his company Green Deal between the same dates.

Prosecutor Mr. Philip Stott told the court: “She was conned into transferring that sum from her bank account by someone pretending to be an employee of her bank who telephoned her.

“She was conned into transferring money into the bank account of Mr. Mohammed, who quickly transferred the money into another bank account he controlled and then withdrew in cash.”

The court heard Mrs Black and her husband received a telephone call on December 20 from a fraudster posing as a Halifax bank official.

“The caller pretended there had been an attempt to draw large sums of money from her account and she needed to take steps to transfer the funds to a secure account.”

She was given account details – Mohammed's RBS account – and a £18,674 transfer was made.

“She describes the man on the telephone as very reassuring and there is no doubt he must have been convincing.”

However, the fraudsters pursued the couple for more money and convinced Mrs Black to make online transfers of £7,000 and £3,800 over the next couple of days.

She eventually contacted Halifax herself and discovered she had been defrauded with no prospect of recovering the money or receiving any compensation.

Before the fraud Mohammed had only £50 in his RBS account and emptied Mrs Black's money in just two days.

He will now also been subject to financial confiscation under the Proceeds of Crime Act.