Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Conmen depend on silence of the scams Police urge fraud victims to overcome shame and speak out
IT takes a special degree of cruelty to sit down for a meal with someone, smiling as you look them in the eye, while planning to steal their savings.
That’s how the chief sales rep at an investment fraud gang operated.
Despite going to great lengths to snare their victims, many of those who were caught out feel so embarrassed they don’t want to talk. This silence is a crook’s best friend.
“Unfortunately many victims feel stupid,” said Det Con Mark Mccabe of Surrey Police.
“They are not stupid at all, they are genuine, hard-working people, they’ve just fallen foul of ruthless fraudsters who are brilliant sales people and lying all the time to make sales.”
The detective was talking after the jailing last week of a gang including Darren Flood, the 40-year-old former brother-in-law of David and Victoria Beckham, for flogging investments in “rare earth metals”.
The crooks traded as The Commodities Link and put huge effort into portraying themselves as a genuine investment company.
The well-rehearsed cold callers appeared to talk expertly about how the metals were used in mobile phones and computers, and their value would steadily rise because supplies from China were drying up.
They rented offices in London’s Docklands financial district and had a contract to store metals in a reputable bonded warehouse.
Their glossy brochures claimed that The Commodities Link was “a truly global company” and even boasted of having an anti-money laundering policy. Chief salesman Paul Muldoon, who’s addicted to drugs and gambling, made great play of the fact the Beckhams’ brother-in-law worked at the company – there’s no suggestion the couple were aware of the fraud.
He dined victims at restaurants near the company offices, sending taxis to collect them to convey the impression of a successful investment business. It was all a facade – the metals were worthless because there’s no secondary market where they can be sold.
Muldoon, 34, from Basildon, Essex, was jailed for four years.
Flood, of Hertford, Herts, got 30 months – his main role was setting up the company’s accounts with posh Coutts bank.
Other culprits jailed for conspiracy to defraud were Gennaro Fiorentino, 38, from East London, who got five years, and 32-year-old Jonathan Docker, of Chigwell, Essex, who got 30 months.
Det Insp Matt Durkin of Surrey Police, described the gang as “thieves in suits”.
“They came across as a very professional organisation, with slick marketing,” he said.
The crooks were such accomplished liars that, while many of the victims were elderly and vulnerable, some were working professionals and one was a retired policeman.
Kingston crown court in Surrey heard that the gang netted around £805,000 from victims who came forward.
The true amount stolen is significantly higher but some victims have since died and others did not want to give evidence.
Which is understandable, even though there’s no shame in falling for such expertly-honed evil, and no reason to stay quiet if such a crime happens to you.
And there’s every reason to speak out if you suspect someone else of being the victim of fraud.
One of the heroes of this story is a Natwest bank manager from Woking, Surrey, who alerted the police after one elderly customer made suspiciously large transfers to the crooks.
If it had not been for such a public-spirited act, the fraud would have continued for longer and no doubt claimed more victims.