Gang of fraudsters who posed as Pudsey Bear to scam shoppers out of £500,000 are jailed
A CRUEL gang of fraudsters were jailed yesterday for wearing Children in Need Pudsey Bear outfits to con kindhearted supermarket shoppers out of more than £500,000.
The cheats posed as charity collectors to rake in huge sums of cash - before splashing the money on luxury lifestyles.
They set up bogus collections at supermarkets across England and Scotland - remaining undetected for a decade.
They claimed to be collecting for Children In Need, The Children's Society, MIND, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and The Christie Fund.
The gang used T-shirts, logos and marketing material they requested from the charities to give the impression they were legitimate collectors.
On some occasions, they wore Pudsey Bear outfits which had been bought online, and used email addresses and websites set up to look legitimate.
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Heading up the gang was convicted conman David Levi, 49, of St Anne’s, Lancs, who in 2015 he paid £12,500 for a 28-night stay at a luxury villa in Australia with a further £10,500 for luxury flights with Emirates.
The gang’s offending took place between 2011 and 2021 and the charities received less than 10 percent of £500,000 collected in cash deposits, Preston crown court heard.
Six members, including Levi, admitted fraud and money laundering and a seventh, William Ormand, was convicted after a trial.
Levi was caged for five years, Ormand, 64, of Blackpool, Lancs, for three years and four months.
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Their co-accused Martin Ebanks, 60, of Oldham, Gtr Manchester, and Kaysha Beck, 31, of Lytham, Lancs, were handed 18 months, Roy Ferguson, 63, of Blackpool, was given two years and five months, and Stephen Chesterman, 63, of Benfleet, Essex, received 22 months.
Finally, Howard Collins, 73, of Blackpool, was jailed for 28 months.
Det Chief Insp Mark Riley, said: “When people donate to a charity they rightly expect that their money will go to supporting good causes and not to lining the pockets of greedy conmen like David Levi and his gang.
"They have exploited peoples’ goodwill and honesty.”