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Bogus London estate agent jailed for fraud

Started by propertyfag, May 21, 2008, 10:35:23 AM

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propertyfag

Now, this is an interesting one...

Quote
A bogus estate agent who sweet-talked would-be tenants out of thousands of pounds each was jailed for eight months today.

Building site labourer Nuruazzaman Miah described the luxury apartments in such glowing terms that his wealthy victims did not even ask to see their future homes before happily parting with their hard-earned cash.

In exchange they got sets of fake keys and tenancy agreements not worth the paper they were printed on.

It was only when they turned up at where they hoped to live that they found the keys did not work and the places already occupied, London's Southwark Crown Court heard.

Despite having used a false name, police soon tracked the silver-tongued fraudster down, confronted him with his dishonesty, and arrested him on three counts of "fraud by misrepresentation".

None of the missing £10,000 was recovered.

Miah, 22, of Kentish Town, north-west London, who admitted all the offences, hung his head in apparent shame, as Judge Peter Testar told him: "This was really quite a deliberate and calculated piece of dishonesty.


The court heard Miah's problems began when he fell behind with repayments on a car finance deal.

Desperate for a solution, he found "inspiration" in a newspaper article about someone who had carried out a similar con.

After some careful research he hijacked the name of a leading estate agent, posted some convincing adverts on the internet and then waited for the replies.

Linda Shamel, prosecuting, said he met his first victim in the less than business-like setting of a train station, and the second in a pizza restaurant.

Each gave him more than £3,000 without having gone anywhere near the property they were supposedly renting.


I don't know who's more stupid, the victims or the culprit....

Either way, it's a close call.

Full story here