Conman who duped Southwark grandfather out of £1,800 avoids jail

A man has pleaded guilty to fraud after conning an elderly man out of his bank cards and going on a spending spree.

Mohammad Hussain, 37, from Stepney Green, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation after he duped a man in his 80s from Southwark into handing over his bank cards by pretending to be a policeman, and spent £1,800 at the Westfield shopping centre.

Hussain was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment to run concurrently on each count, suspended for two years.

The court heard that at around noon on November 17, 2017, Hussain rang the man and told him he was a police officer investigating a fraud involving the victim’s bank card.

He asked the man a number of questions about his cards and bank accounts, including the PIN numbers.

Hussain then told the man to go to a bank to withdraw £4,000 and claimed that the imaginary suspects who had defrauded the victim had been caught and the man would need to go to the bank and help verify fingerprints.

When the elderly man said he could not get to the bank, Hussain told him he would send someone around to visit him.

The elderly man told Hussain he wanted to call his daughter but the conman ordered him not to and instead told him to call 999.

But Hussain used a technique that kept the victim’s phone line open, so when the victim did dial 999 he was put back in touch with Hussain.

Hussain made his way to the man’s home and was captured on CCTV walking up to his front door to convince him to hand over his bank cards in an envelope.

Then Hussain went on a spending spree at Westfield Shopping Centre, Stratford.

He was caught on CCTV going into two shops where he spent more than £1,800 on the victim’s cards.

Later that day the victim called his granddaughter and told her what had happened.

She called his bank and the police. While she was there a man pretending to be from her grandfather’s bank called to ask if he had cancelled his card.

When the man pretending to be a banker was told the real bank had been spoken to, the caller said: “Tell your grandad to be careful who he gives his card to and that he should have a lovely Christmas”.

The victim was left so frightened he struggled to eat, rarely left the house and was unable to trust people.

Police caught up with Hussain and arrested him in August 2019 after he was stopped on an unrelated matter.