Paypal conman spent ill-gotten earnings on drugs
ONLINE SELLERS TRICKED RESTAURANTS DONATE FOOD
A SOPHISTICATED conman who targeted his victims via fake Paypal sales has been jailed.
Jacob Bailey, 22, of Rothesay Close, east Hull, conned innocent sellers out of their money then spent his earnings on drugs.
Bailey started his latest campaign in August 2018 when he approached a man selling a Nikon camera online.
Using a friend’s Paypal account, Bailey paid £800 for the camera, collected it and then the purchase was reversed from Paypal by the friend’s account, leaving the seller with no camera or money.
Just a month later on September 11, Bailey did the same again, instead contacting a man selling an iphone 8 on the website Depop.
He paid £500, again through someone else’s Paypal account. And when the item was delivered to an address in Ansom Road, east Hull, the buyer got in touch with the seller, telling him the item had never arrived and he was refunded.
Rachel Scott, prosecuting, told Hull Crown Court Bailey targeted two more people in the same vein until his arrest in July 7.
Bailey was due to surrender to Hull Magistrates’ Court on July 23, but did not, sparking a police manhunt to find him. He was eventually found and arrested again on September 30.
Bailey’s first arrest did not stop him and before he was found by police, he advertised camping equipment on Gumtree and tricked two more sellers into parting with a Macbook and an ipod.
Ms Scott told the court: “The camping equipment was for sale for £240. The man contacted the seller who said he had more equipment available for £360.
“The man paid £600 into an account and he was provided with a tracking number. When he checked when they would be delivered he contacted the man who said his account had been abused by a friend.
“In late August this year, a student advertised a Macbook and another man named ‘Harrison’ contacted him enquiring about a price. A price of £700 was agreed and on September 1, he received a notification saying the payment of £735 had been made.
“The student delivered the laptop to an address in Hull and another man opened a dispute with Paypal to say he had not received the item.”
The man won the dispute and the student was left out of pocket and without a laptop.
He told the court in a victim impact statement: “I’m very annoyed. I believed the buyer was genuine, but little did I know this was an act put on to try and con me.
“I have been left without any computer and couldn’t do any work without the funds I would have used from selling it to buy another.
“I have had to borrow friends’ to do my work which is an inconvenience for me and them.”
The man said he has been put selling in the future.
Hull Crown Court heard Bailey has previous convictions including two counts of making false representation, for which he was given a year-long community order - making him in breach of that for his latest offending.
Mitigating, Stephen Robinson told the court that at the time, Bailey was suffering from a cocaine and ketamine addiction. He said: “He was taking large amounts of drugs. He was working at the time of the initial offences but his wages were not able to fund his addiction.
Recorder Menary sentenced Bailey to 16 months imprisonment for fraud and failure to surrender, and told him: “This was a sophisticated manipulation of Paypal and people selling things online.” off
TWO Beverley restaurant owners offering free food to help struggling families this week have said they were not prepared to let children out of school go hungry.
Central 42 owner Eyyup Demir and Pig & Whistle boss James Allcock have both offered to provide meals for families with children eligible for free school meals.
Mr Demir said he made the offer to give back to a community that returned to dine in his restaurant after coronavirus lockdown restrictions eased, helping it to recover.
Meanwhile, Mr Allcock said he planned offer free food in partnership with Beverley’s East Yorkshire Food Bank beyond half term, adding child hunger persisted regardless of the time of year.
Both were visited by East Riding and Beverley Town councillors including Liberal Democrat Denis Healy as they launched their offers on Monday.
Beverley Town Council has agreed to split the cost of Central 42 providing meals and the Pig & Whistle giving out food parcels.
Cllr Healy said both had “put politicians to shame” by stepping in while still reeling from the impact of coronavirus.
“Child poverty exists in Beverley and these restaurants have put this on out of the kindness of their hearts after struggling themselves during the pandemic,” he said.
It follows Labour’s motion calling on the government to put on free school meals for the 1.4m children in England eligible over half term and Christmas defeated in Parliament last week.
East Riding Council and Hull City Council, as well as restaurant and other venue owners, have since offered them for around 17,500 eligible children in East Yorkshire.
Central 42’s Mr Demir said his restaurant had already provided around 45 meals per days after launching the offer.
The owner added he wanted it to show that the community could only get through the pandemic by sticking together.
Mr Demir said: “I’ve lived in Beverley for ten years and I’ve had the restaurant for about four or five.
“People here are loyal to me so I wanted to say thank you and to give something back to them.
“This is about helping the people who need it, you never know what goes on behind closed doors and what it’s like for these kids.
“I cannot see people going without food, not only the school kids, I also give food to the homeless daily.”
Mr Allcock, of the Pig & Whistle, said he was offering food parcels to struggling families and was looking at other schemes going forward.
He added he wanted to continue his work into the future because the issue of child poverty “isn’t going away”.
Mr Allcock said: “In our initial drive we delivered 20 parcels on Tuesday, each one has enough to feed two to three people for three to five days.
“I’m trying to make as many people who need this aware as possible, the more people we find the more we can feed.
“I’ve been on Universal Credit myself so I know how it feels, and the restaurant was struggling in lockdown.
“We sold £4,000 worth of vouchers while we were closed so customers could redeem them when we could open, it was great that the community supported us like that.
“I’ve also partnered with the East
Yorkshire Food Bank in Beverley, they’re doing great things.
“We’ve launched a fundraising drive for them to help them over Christmas, we’ve raised £2,000 for them so far but that’s a starting point.
“This isn’t going away and it’s not just an issue for today, for this half term and for Christmas but its one for today, tomorrow and forever”