‘YOU COULD’VE WORKED TO EARN MONEY BUT YOU WERE GREEDY’
City fraudster fleeced OAP out of £2,800
‘GREEDY’ Kelton Maddox teamed up with another fraudster to fleece an OAP out of £2,800.
The 21-year-old joined forces with Ebrahim Cali to target the elderly woman who received a call from her ‘bank’ telling her that three payments had been made to Maddox’s account.
And when she entered her PIN number into the phone she later received a call from her real bank to say £2,800 had disappeared from her account.
The cash had been withdrawn by the two men that day.
Now Maddox, of Brightgreen Street, Longton, and 24-year-old Cali, from Coventry - who both admitted charges of conspiracy to steal - have avoided being jailed at Warwick Crown Court.
Instead they were handed fourmonth prison sentences, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to do 50-hours unpaid work. The offence was committed in 2019 and the court heard that the victim has been reimbursed by her bank.
Sentencing the thieves, Recorder William Edis QC told them: “You both got together to defraud people - and did it in a manner which is the bane of modern life.
“You tried to con people out of their PIN numbers. You may not have thought of it or bought the equipment, but you knew exactly where this money was coming from.
“You would have known that, if not elderly, they would have been the more vulnerable members of society.
“You did it for greed. You could easily have worked for it, but you were greedy and wanted easy money. For all we know, that was the last £2,800 she had in the world.
“You both knew what was behind it, and you were both in it up to your collective necks.
“This was quite sophisticated. It was so carefully planned that within five minutes of the first transfer you were there to withdraw it.
“You are both older and, I hope, wiser now.
“This case passes the custody threshold by some distance, but I do not think it justifies an immediate sentence.”