Bogus London estate agent jailed for fraud

View PDF | Print View
by: Admin
Total views: 85

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. "These crimes could not have been committed spontaneously or without a very considerable amount of thought. "I don't see there can be anything but an immediate custodial sentence," he added. 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. The third parted with a similar amount of cash right outside the front door of what was supposed to be his new home, only to find after Miah had made good his escape that the keys he had been given did not fit.

---

Rating: Not yet rated
Login to vote

Comments

No comments posted.

Add Comment

You do not have permission to comment. If you log in, you may be able to comment.