‘ABSOLUTELY DESPICABLE’
A scumbag who posed as a policeman to con money out of vulnerable victims including a Braehead woman with earlyonset Alzheimer’s - has been jailed for five years.
James Ratcliffe of St John Street, Stirling, got away with more than £35,000 from his four victims in a string of elaborate scams.
Fraudulent transactions of almost £60,000 were blocked but more than £13,000 of his elderly victims’ money remains missing.
His accomplice – a man with a Stirling accent – has never been identified.
Ratcliffe’s victims - a woman with early-onset Alzheimer’s , a 72-year-old woman from Stirling and a couple aged 70 and 71 from Aberdeen - were all targeted between November 7 and 18 last year in a crime spree described as “absolutely despicable” by a senior detective.
The first victim, the Alzheimer’s sufferer in her sixties, was phoned by Ratcliffe’s accomplice who posed as an official from the Bank of Scotland’s fraud department and lied that someone had tried to take £10,000 from her account.
He was able to quote her card’s three-digit security code, convincing her he was genuine, and persuaded her to “help catch” those responsible.
He told her to put her card in a sealed envelope with her PIN, and a police officer would come and collect it.
The woman hadn’t even had time to put down the phone, a court heard, when Ratcliffe, 33, turned up on her doorstep, showed her a Police Scotland ID badge, and took the envelope.
He then used the card at an ATM in Stirling’s Murray Place to withdraw £100 to hire a cab, and took the taxi to a jewellers’ in Glasgow’s Great Western Road where he used it to try to buy a £10,000 gold necklace. The transaction was declined, and Ratcliffe said he would return.
Meanwhile, his accomplice, now trying to fake the woman’s voice, phoned the Bank of Scotland complaining that “her” card was not working and “she” was at the jewellers’ to purchase gold.
However “she” gave repeated wrong answers to security questions and was told to attend the bank in person to unblock her account.
Rather than abandon the scam, Ratcliffe posted the victim’s bank card back through her letterbox, and his accomplice phoned again and convinced her to go into her branch.
Once the card was unblocked, Ratcliffe, still posing as a cop, collected it again and made two further declined attempts to use it to buy the gold necklace.
Two days later the second victim, a 72-year-old Stirling woman, was rung up by Ratcliffe’s accomplice, claiming to be from the Royal Bank of Scotland fraud department and he was able to provide her with details of her recent transactions to convince her he was genuine.
He instructed her to go to her bank at once, even offering to pay for a taxi, and withdraw £4000 and put it in an envelope with her bank card and PIN.
Posing as a police officer, Ratcliffe, wearing a hi-viz yellow jacket and a police ID badge on a lanyard, collected the wad “for fingerprint examination”.
Mrs Alex Kirk, prosecuting, said the woman had been instructed to remain on the phone to Ratcliffe’s accomplice throughout the trip to and from the bank, and did so.
He then set up online banking to transfer money from her savings account to her current account – so he could access it with the card – and Ratcliffe again traveled to the jewellers and made two attempts to buy £10,000 worth of gold. Both were declined. The woman told her daughter and the police were called in, but the £4000 has never been recovered.
The Aberdeen couple were defrauded of £9000 in similar circumstances.
Appearing at Falkirk Sheriff Court last week by videolink from Low Moss Prison, Ratcliffe pleaded guilty to fraudulently scheming to steal the funds by posing as a police officer and impersonating bank security officials.
He also admitted three charges of wilful fireraising, dating from 2017 -including torching 500 scrap tyres at a garage in Cowane Street, Stirling, and setting light to a car at the local Sainsbury’s.
Solicitor Lindsay Gaughan, defending, said: “His involvement was fuelled by his drug use.”
Imposing the five-year jail term, Sheriff Keith O’Mahony said: “These were appalling offences, perpetrated against vulnerable people.”
Speaking afterwards, Detective Inspector David MacGregor, praised victim’s courage and said: “James Ratcliffe preyed upon vulnerable people and conned them out of thousands of pounds by posing as bank security officials and Police officers, people he knew the public would trust.
“Ratcliffe’s actions were absolutely despicable and we hope this sentence sends a clear message.”