Gang ‘conned a pensioner out of £94,000 by posing as cops and bank staff’, court hears
Michael Garrett was swindled out of the cash in just one week by fraudsters who phoned with bogus warnings his card had been cloned persuaded him to transfer his savings 'for safe keeping'
A PENSIONER was conned out of £94,000 by a gang pretending to be police officers and bank staff, a court heard today.
Michael Garrett was swindled out of the cash in just one week by fraudsters who phoned with bogus warnings his card had been cloned and then "looted" his savings.
The 70-year-old, of Weymouth, was duped into transferring the money "to keep it safe" and paid it into several Barclays accounts controlled by the gang's accomplices, the court heard.
The cash was then immediately withdrawn from branches across the country.
Louise Myers, 28, Loula Bavura, 22, Peter Morrison, 26, Mahad Esse, 32, all let their bank accounts be used in the scam to launder a total of £40,000, the Old Bailey was told.
A fifth defendant, Alamin Ahmed, 21, also allegedly received £9,000 into his account which he had specially set up for the scam but failed to withdraw it in cash.
Kevin Dent, prosecuting, said: "Mr Garrett is 70 years old, and so slightly more vulnerable, you might think, to this kind of pressure.
"This was a key part of how this fraud succeeded.
"Michael Garrett was conned into departing with over £90,000 of his money.
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"A considerable amount of that money went into the bank accounts of these defendants.
"Each defendant played his part in assisting what we say was a highly organised looting of Mr Garrett's bank account."
The victim was phoned repeatedly by crooks pretending to be policemen and an employee in the fraud department at Santander, jurors heard.
Mr Dent said: "All cleverly done over a series of telephone calls to make Mr Garrett feel that he really was in contact with a team of police officers and others working inside banks."
One bogus cop told him a man called Peter Mitchell with a cloned credit card had been arrested in London, and that fraudulent transactions had been made on Mr Garrett's account, which had been frozen as a result.
He was also told there was someone successfully claiming to be him, the court heard.
The fraudsters convinced Mr Garrett he needed to transfer money to other accounts to keep it safe and secure.
Mr Dent said: "He was told that these were safe bank accounts under the care and control of police officers. This was all hush hush and undercover.
"In reality, these bank accounts were anything other than safe. These were the bank accounts of a number of people including the defendants in this case.
"And once money had gone into these accounts it came straight out.
"This was a very sophisticated, concerted and determined fraud, to try and get as much as possible out of Mr Garrett.";
The five defendants all knew or suspected they were money laundering, the prosecutor said.
He continued: "The receiving of the money in this case was part of a system that was highly organised.
"Each defendant received exactly £9,000 into their bank accounts, the exact same sum, although Morrison, in addition, received an extra £4,000."
Withdrawing it quickly in cash sums helped split it up as well as hide it, the court heard.
Mr Dent said: "The fraudsters can get their cut, and so that people who received the money who allowed their bank accounts to be used can also get their cut.
"There is another feature of this case that may be of some significance.
"In each case, the bank account of the defendants was a Barclays Bank account.
"And so for some reason, those arranging this had a particular preference for Barclays Bank accounts.
"Indeed, one of the defendants, Ahmed, actually had to open a Barclays Bank account for the monies to be paid in."
The fraudsters needed to be sure the money laundering suspects were "willing" participants, and that they were good bank accounts to use, the prosecutor said.
The defendants deny charges of converting criminal property and attempted conversion of criminal property.
Morrison claimed he offered his account to be used to receive money for his friend Nadine to open a business - a children's nursery - and to go shopping with.
He said his friend could not open a bank account because of a poor credit rating, and thought the money was from a rich relative of his.
The trial continues.
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