Conman admits defrauding £12,500 from Grenfell fund
A SERIAL conman has admitted pretending his family died in the Grenfell Tower fire to obtain about £12,500 that was intended for victims.
Anh Nhu Nguyen claimed his wife and son died in the June 14 disaster and was photographed beside the Prince of Wales when he met survivors. Nguyen, 52, of Beckenham, south-east London, posed as a victim for almost two weeks, and lied to family liaison officers about how he lost sight of his family in the smoke-clogged stairwell, police said.
But when the recovery operation began on June 15, the fraudster was nine miles away at a housing charity, prosecutors said. He was given about £12,500 from charities and Kensington and Chelsea Council.
Yesterday, Vietnam-born Nguyen pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to two counts of fraud by false representation and one count of making an untrue statement for the purpose of obtaining a passport. He will be sentenced on December 15.
The conviction has raised fears that more people could have attempted to profit dishonestly from the tragedy, in which 69 people are known to have died. The Metropolitan Police said in September that is was investigating other cases in which individuals had fraudulently tried to claim money.
Nguyen, a British citizen with 17 aliases, was discovered to be a fake when he gave several flat numbers – including one where a real victim lived. He has 28 previous convictions for 56 offences spanning more than 30 years.