A Lockwood man has been sentenced at Kirklees Magistrates Court after trying to pay for iPads worth thousands with fake Capital Bond vouchers.
Savneet Singh, of Bentley Street, was convicted after a trial of two counts of fraud by false representation.
He had attempted to purchase more than £4,000 worth of the tablet computers from Argos using the bogus gift vouchers.
The 25-year-old claimed that he had bought the vouchers for a bargain price off a Nigerian man – but had believed them to be genuine.
Alex Bozman, prosecuting, said that Singh walked into the Leeds Road Retail Park store on December 20 with another male.
They paid for two Apple iPads worth £1,118 using a wad of £20 Capital Bond vouchers.
The cashier had seen the vouchers before and accepted them.
However, Singh returned 20 minutes later and tried to pay for seven more computers at a combined value of £3,373.
Mr Bozman said: “He placed another order for more iPads, again offering to pay in Capital Bond vouchers.
“Because of that the cashier became suspicious and spoke with the duty manager, who was aware of counterfeit bonds in circulation.This had resulted in the withdrawal of old vouchers and them being replaced with new ones.”
The marketing graduate had denied the charges but was found guilty by a District Judge at the Huddersfield court.
Mr Bozman said that in interview Singh claimed that the day prior to the incident he had been shopping in the Arndale Centre in Manchester.
He had withdrawn £1,000 from his cash ISA and was looking through the Argos catalogue, Mr Bozman said.
The prosecutor said: “He said he was approached by a Nigerian gentleman who offered him £4,000 in vouchers at a fraction of the price.
“The defendant gave him £1,000 for them and went into Argos the following day with his friend, named ‘Teddy’, who he knew from the gym.”
Mr Bozman said that Teddy also had £1,000 in Capital Bond vouchers to spend in the store.
The men had then pooled the vouchers together into an envelope to buy the iPads, magistrates heard.
Teddy had left the store by the time police arrived.
Singh claimed that he had believed the vouchers to be genuine and would have used them to treat family members.
Chris Haddock, mitigating, said his client was concerned by the possibility of custody as it would bring shame on his family and sick father.
He added: “You need to bear in mind the nature of the victim.
“If you defrauded a pensioner out of his last £50 that’s a very serious matter.
“The fraud is just over £4,000 (but) you can’t accept Argos to be a vulnerable victim in that sense.”
Singh was sentenced to a community order with 200 hours of unpaid work and also ordered to pay compensation of £1,118 and trial costs of £500.
