Man, 85, helps to thwart ‘courier fraudster’
A QUICK-THINKING elderly man got police round to his house to thwart a crook who tried to con him out of thousands of pounds.
The 85-year-old, from Prestbury, was in the middle of falling victim to an £8,300 ‘courier fraud’ scam when he realised and took evasive action.
He had received a call from a man claiming to be a police officer who said there had been a number of suspicious transactions on his bank account.
The caller said that the suspect was believed to be a worker at the bank and that the pensioner should immediately go to the branch - which was the Nat West on Chestergate - and withdraw the money he had there.
Having done so the victim was to return home and hand over the cash to a ‘courier’ who would call to collect it and return the money at a later date.
Although the victim believed the caller, upon arriving at the bank he was told it was only possible to withdraw £1,000.
While waiting for this amount the pensioner spotted a Cheshire Police poster that stated, ‘police would never ask you to withdraw money from your bank’.
Realising the scam the man walked round the corner to Macclesfield Police Station and reported what had happened.
Plain clothed officers then went to his house and waited in the hallway to arrest the courier when he arrived a short time later.
The attempted fraud happened on February 28 this year.
Marcello Gaspar, 21, of Arundel Road, Birmingham, was sentenced at Chester Crown Court on Thursday, August 6. He admitted fraud by false representation and was given 15 weeks prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 60 hours unpaid work.
After the sentencing Detective Sergeant Chris Jacques, from Cheshire Police’s economic crime unit, said: “To specifically target a vulnerable, elderly man with the intent to defraud him of thousands of pounds is simply sickening.
”I cannot understand how somebody can stoop so low as to commit such an offence. In this case, it was only due to the fact that the victim saw the police poster in the bank and realised that he was being scammed that we were able to bring Gasper to justice.
“Sadly, this is not always the outcome and over the past twelve months we are aware of many more victims who have lost thousands of pounds.
“The impact of these scams can be both financially and emotionally devastating, and in many cases the people responsible are never traced.”
David Keane, police and crime commissioner for Cheshire, has thanked banks and building societies who have helped tackle courier fraud by displaying awareness posters.