Mile End man given suspended 18 month prison sentence for duping pensioner out of thousands
Inner London Crown Court where Mohammad Hussain was sentenced for two counts of fraud by false representation - Credit: Archant
A fraudster has been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, for conning an elderly man out of his bank cards and going on a spending spree at Westfield Stratford City.
Mohammad Hussain, 37, of Ben Jonson Road, Mile End pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation. He was sentenced on March 4 at Inner London Crown Court.
The court heard that at around noon on November 17, 2017 Hussain rang the victim, a man in his 80s, 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 told the man, who lived in Southwark, to go to a bank to withdraw £4,000. He then sent him to the bank to verify fingerprints, saying the perpetrators of the fraud had been caught.
When the elderly man said he could not get there, Hussain responded by saying he would send someone around to visit him.
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At this point the victim wanted to call his daughter, but Hussain ordered him to call 999 instead. However, Hussain applied a technique to the victim's phone which meant that when he dialled 999 he was put back in touch with Hussain.
The conman then made his way to the victim's home to convince him to hand over his bank cards in an envelope. He was captured on CCTV doing so.
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After fraudulently stealing the man's bank cards Hussain went on a spending spree in Westfield Stratford City.
Again he was caught on CCTV; he spent over £1,800 of the victim's money in two shops.
Later that day the elderly man 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.
The granddaughter responded by saying she had spoken to his real bank, to which the caller said: "Tell your grandad to be careful who he gives his card to and that he should have a lovely Christmas."
After this traumatic incident, the victim was left so frightened he struggled to eat, rarely left the house and was unable to trust people.
Hussain was arrested after police stopped him on an unrelated incident in August 2019. They managed to match his image to CCTV which caught him carrying out the heinous crimes.
