A callous fraudster has been jailed for seven years after he conned three pensioners into giving him nearly £300,000.
Leeds Crown Court heard Omar Arshad told his first victim, now in his 70s, a series of lies to get money from him, including that his children had died and he needed to pay for funerals.
He was already on bail for that and another offence where he failed to get money from an 86-year-old woman, when he told the final victim – who was in her 90s – that he needed cash because his mother had died in Pakistan.
But in reality Arshad blew the money on his and his partner’s heroin habits his counsel Adam Birkby, told the court today.
Arshad, 40, of Queen Elizabeth Gardens, Springwood, admitted three charges of fraud.
Jailing him Judge Tom Bayliss said: “You exploited or attempted to exploit three elderly and vulnerable people. You did it in a very sophisticated way and did it with no shame and while on bail from the police.
“You are a predator on the community and the sentence must and will reflect that.”
Patrick Palmer, prosecuting, said the first victim was in his late 60s when he met Arshad by chance in 2012. Arshad did some work for him for £30 and asked for more work but there was none.
He then befriended the man and even invited him to his house. Over time he gave him various reasons why he needed money.
Initially he said he was trying to set up a business and got some money from the pensioner to buy equipment but then told him the tools had been stolen and he would need more as he had contracts to fill.
He claimed to be in line for a million inheritance and then to be awaiting £200,000 compensation for an accident.
Mr Palmer said to back up his claims Arshad “manufactured a series of letters purporting to be from solicitors and other people.” He also got phone calls made to the victim supporting his need for quick money.
At some stage he told the pensioner his two children had died from TB and he needed money for their funerals. He also claimed he needed money for medication and posed as a nurse in phone calls.
He even persuaded the pensioner to take out a credit card so he could get money more easily. The victim who was 69 in 2014, said he felt more and more under pressure by Arshad.
By the time the police were involved he had conned the victim into handing over a total of £265,279 from his savings and pension fund. The investigating officer discovered 4,797 texts between the defendant and pensioner and more than 300 e-mails.
Arshad was on bail when he called at the home of another pensioner on November 23 last year, knocking on her door at 8.45am claiming he had two parcels for her.
She shouted to him to come back later because she was not dressed. When he did return he claimed to have spent £9.70 taking in the parcels for her and wanted the money back.
She had kept the chain on her door and again fobbed him off to return later saying she had no money. She then phoned her daughter who contacted the police and when Arshad returned he was arrested.
Mr Palmer said Arshad was bailed again and between February and June this year persuaded an elderly lady to give him around £27,000 after initially saying he needed to pay for the funeral of his mother in Pakistan.
He took her by taxi to make withdrawals from her Nationwide Building Society Account on 29 occasions and when they stopped paying money got her to go instead to the Yorkshire Building Society. The manager there called her nephew in because they were concerned and it was then the fraud came to light.
The court heard he had previous convictions for fraud.
Mr Birkby told the court for Arshad that he had been a heroin addict for over 10 years and the money went to funding his addiction and that of his partner.
“He is genuinely sorry for what he has done exploiting these people for his own selfish reasons,” said Mr Birkby. “He wishes he could turn back the clock but at the time he could not see beyond the next hit. He had lost all sense of decency and morality.”
