Man jailed for scamming two Harrogate district women of life savings

A man has been jailed for scamming two Harrogate district women out of more than £450,000 and their entire life savings.

Police say the women were groomed over several months and have been left “absolutely devastated”.

They were called by a person claiming to be from the police, who said their accounts had been compromised.

He advised them to go to their bank and withdraw all their money in cash, which would then be picked up by a ‘police courier’ for safekeeping.

The two victims, whose names and precise locations are not known, were also told to purchase gold bullion with money from their bank accounts and then the gold was collected by the ‘couriers’ to be kept safe.

Ashley Thompson, 26, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for money laundering and fraud by false representation at the Inner London Crown Court yesterday.

Year-long police investigation

North Yorkshire Police received reports a year ago of victims being targeted by the crime, which is known as courier fraud scam.

Officers from the force’s economic crime unit worked with gold dealers to raise awareness of the crime and put other dealers on notice to watch out for suspicious gold sales.

On November 9, they were alerted to Thompson trying to sell one of the gold bullion bars in a London pawnbroker.

Working with City of London Police, two North Yorkshire Police officers travelled to London to arrest him and he was subsequently charged with fraud and money laundering offences.

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In interview, Thompson claimed he had hired a lock-up storage facility and that he had found the gold bar in a bag of tools but had no idea who owned it. He said he had waited to see if anyone claimed it but when no one did, he decided to try and pawn it for cash.

The investigating officers found that Thompson had created fake documents to prove the lock-up facility existed, when in reality it did not.

Victims ‘groomed’ over months

North Yorkshire Police Detective Constable Neil Brodhurst from the force’s economic crime unit, who led the investigation, said:

“Throughout the trial Thompson denied any knowledge of the gold bar’s origin, sticking to his story that he had simply found it in a bag of tools. He also couldn’t explain why he’d gone to the lengths of faking a hire contract for a non-existent lock-up facility to show the pawnbroker.

“The two victims of this courier fraud were absolutely devastated by it. They were groomed over a period of several months with their trust and good nature callously exploited to the extent that they lost their entire life savings to someone claiming to be a police officer.

“We unfortunately see courier fraud targeting North Yorkshire residents time and time again and I’d like to take this opportunity to issue another warning about it. The fraudsters use incredibly calculated and manipulative tactics to convince their victims that they are legitimate police officers or bank officials and will keep going until they get what they want.

“Remember, the police or your bank will never contact you and ask you to move or transfer money and will definitely never ask you to purchase high value items or to hand over your bank cards. Please be on your guard and share this warning with your friends, family and networks.”

DC Brodhurst added he hoped Thompson’s sentence “will serve as some closure for our victims”.

Thompson, of Margery Street, London, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation and was found guilty of money laundering.

He received a 15 month prison sentence for money laundering and a concurrent 6 month sentence for fraud by false representation.

Two Harrogate district women lose £500,000 to gold scam

Two women from the Harrogate district have lost a combined £500,000 after scammers persuaded them to buy gold bullion.

The scammers, who claimed to be from the police, told the victims they were monitoring fraudulent activity on their accounts.

The women were told they must work with the police to catch the fraudsters and, as part of this, were advised to move money out of their bank accounts and buy gold bullion instead.

The bullion, which is another term for gold bars, was then collected by a fake courier who promised to keep it safe until the police investigation had concluded.

North Yorkshire Police, which was alerted to the scam last week, said these type of scam stories have become “very common” recently.

Andy Fox, the force’s financial abuse safeguarding officer, said:

“You can sit and think ‘why would they hand over all that money?’ but the scammers are very good at what they do. They pretended to be police so the victims trusted them, you could call it brainwashing.

“I have spoken to the victims and they are very upset. We just have to keep giving advice to ensure these scammers can’t continue.”

Mr Fox said the police were alerted to the crimes when the victims got in touch to ask for the officer they had been speaking to. Once the pair ran out of money the perpetrator stopped calling.

Mr Fox said a detective was investigating various leads associated with the case.

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Fraud victims don’t get their money back unless the bank reimburses it or the police find the culprit and use their assets to pay back victims.

North Yorkshire Police said in a statement:

“Please remember, the police or your bank will NEVER contact you and ask you to move or transfer money. We will never ask you to lie to your bank or your family and we will certainly never ask you to purchase gold bullion.

“If you receive a call like this, hang up immediately. If you are ever worried about any calls you receive speak to a family member, friend, your bank or ring the police.”

If you think you have been a victim of fraud call North Yorkshire Police on 101.