Balding conman steals elderly couple’s life savings to buy £10,000 hair transplant
Before-and-after police mugshots show balding conman posing with his new £10,000 hair transplant after stealing elderly couple’s life savings and duping them out of their home
- Syed Bukhari, 38, masqueraded as customer services advisor for Blackpool bank
- Oblivious couple thought he was ‘Gerry from the bank’ who worked in Llyods
- Lancashire couple were told there had been ‘fraudulent transactions’ on account
- They were tricked out of both their £150,000 home and life savings by Bukhari
- He spent the money on trips to Dubai, luxury hotels, clothes and nice jewellery
Syed Bukhari (pictured), 38, used the money he stole from the Lancashire couple to combat his receding hairline. He is seen here before he underwent the £10,000 hair transplant
These before-and-after police mugshots show a callous conman posing with his new £10,000 hair transplant – after he duped a confused old couple out of their own home and stole their life savings.
Balding Syed Bukhari, 38, had masqueraded as a customer services advisor for a bank to persuade the victims to hand over their confidential details before using them to sell their £150,000 property without their knowledge.
The husband, 80, a former Merchant navyman and his wife, 81, who both have dementia trusted Bukhari as they genuinely believed he was ‘Gerry from the bank’ who worked at their local Lloyds branch in Blackpool.
He had falsely told them there had been ‘fraudulent transactions’ on their bank accounts and he vowed to help them warning their home could be at risk of repossession.
But by the time police unravelled the scam, the victims’ home in Fulwood, near Preston which they had lived in for 40 years had been sold to a private company at a knockdown price and they lost their life savings of £150,000.
Bukhari had used some of the stolen cash to fly business class to Dubai and splurge £11,000 on a stay at a luxury hotel and also spent tens of thousands of pounds on the cosmetic implants procedure for his receding hairline plus Rolex watches, jewellery, designer clothes, bags and mobile phones.
He was arrested when officers met an Emirates flight at Manchester Airport from Dubai after inquiries revealed he had set up multiple bank accounts in the couple’s name, redirected their mail and diverted the telephone landline and attempted to take a £40,000 bank loan.
Bukhari (pictured here after his hair transplant) also used the stolen money on a stay at a luxury hotel, Rolex watches, jewellery, designer clothes, bags and mobile phones
Today as Bukhari of Withington, Manchester began almost eight years in jail, police said he may have been part of a gang targeting OAPs by posing as bank workers claiming their accounts had been compromised.
The couple who have four children are still living at their home but their family are fighting a legal battle to get their property back.
Det Sgt Janette Bashall from Lancashire Police’s Economic Crime Unit said: ‘Bukhari is a callous, deeply manipulative and heartless liar who saw fit to take over the lives of an innocent, vulnerable elderly couple.
‘They had worked hard all their lives to be able to retire in some comfort yet he saw to destroy this by taking their home and hard earned savings, defrauding them of in excess of £350,000, most of which has been spent and not recovered.
‘He racked up thousands of pounds of debt whilst travelling extensively on luxury trips to Dubai and Pakistan.
‘It is particularly callous that he took full advantage of the pair, exploiting their vulnerability and lack of capacity due to their dementia. In fact, I am convinced he saw this as an opportunity to further his criminal behaviour.
‘The family are continuing to try to get back the house that he manipulated the couple in to signing to sell.
‘They didn’t even know it had been sold and did not have the capacity to make that decision.
‘Furthermore, the genuine purchaser of the house will be at a significant loss if it is returned to the rightful owners.
‘We believe that Bukhari was the instigator in this fraud but he did not act alone.
‘The investigation will continue to identify further offenders and an application under the Proceeds of Crime Act has been made to seize assets from him.
‘We are still determined to identify those involved and so if you think you know who they may be, please contact us.’
-
‘Catch Me If You Can’ conman who posed as an airline pilot…
Gambling addict conman offered fake jobs at Carphone… -
How I was conned out of £400,000 by silver-tongued monster:…
Share this article
In a statement the couple’s son, 55, said: ‘It’s been awful. Every time I’m sorting through my dad’s financial affairs he asks what I’m doing and I have to tell him he’s been conned – each time the shock and upset is exactly the same as the first time.
‘His condition means he can have a full conversation with you, but as soon as you walk out of a room he doesn’t realise you were there because his short term memory capacity is affected.
‘He is a very private, proud man and never shared his financial situation with anybody. My stepmum still believes to this day that Bukhari is a bank worker.’
He added: ‘I keep thinking its a bad dream and I’m going to wake up. I’m spending two to three hours every day chasing the various financial institutions to keep them updated and try and get my parents money back.
‘I feel angry towards him, it’s been hard listening to him trying to minimise what he has done on court. To an extent dad’s condition has protected him because he doesn’t know what has happened, it’s me who has the sleepless nights.’
Preston Crown Court was told Bukhari began preying on the couple in November 2017 when he contacted the couple under the guise of ‘Gerry Patel’ from their bank.
He told them that he had resolved fraudulent transactions on their accounts and their house was at risk of repossession but he would help them.
He used this to befriend them and gain their trust. He later went as far as befriending their son over the phone, convincing him he was acting on behalf of the bank.
Shortly after the scam began the couple’s bank manager became suspicious about a £40,000 online loan application made in the husband’s name.
The manager contacted the couple who said they had not asked to borrow money and the loan application was cancelled.
But the following day, a mystery man – purporting to be the couple’s son – contacted the bank complaining that that his ‘father’ had been contacted.
A few days later the husband was persuaded to attend the bank with a letter which stated if he was in the bank and appeared confused, their son, had authority on the account and should be contacted.
A contact number was given Bukhari and in a subsequent call he falsely stated transactions on the old man’s account were genuine and requested the credit limit be increased to £10,000.
Police visited the couple after concerns about unusual financial activity but the wife declined any help having been convinced Burkhari was offering genuine help. She insisted no money was missing and ‘Gerry from the bank’ was helping them.
Within weeks, ten different bank accounts and credit cards in the victim’s names had been opened fraudulently via online applications.
One of the accounts had almost £100,000 deposited into it, which was later found to be from savings and investments belonging to the couple.
The bank froze the account after becoming suspicious but Bukhari began making multiple calls to the bank falsely claiming to be the son, questioning why the account was blocked stating his ‘father’ would be attending the Blackpool branch to resolve the problem.
Later that day, the elderly husband attended the bank with a note apparently confirming Bukhari’s call but appeared confused as to why he was there with no knowledge of the account.
Staff at the bank were so concerned about him, they helped him find his car and contacted the police and left the block on the account in place.
Two PCSOs later visited the couple’s home to find the door answered by Bukhari using the name Gerry Patel and who was on the phone to the bank still trying to get the account unblocked.
The elderly wife said ‘Gerry’ was a friend of their son and that they were fine and the bank unblocked the account and all of the money was withdrawn or transferred.
The couple’s mail was also redirected allowing Bukhari the opportunity to intercept any bank cards being delivered to the victims.
The redirection was cancelled by Royal Mail when the couple asked their postman why they were not getting any letters.
But the couple’s landline phone was diverted to a line used by Bukhari and their telephone number was changed to gain control of the victims’ existing accounts and intercept communication for the new bank accounts.
The fraud began to unravel in January when the couple’s real son contacted police, concerned that his parents had been victims of fraud after seeing letters about various overdrafts they had not applied for.
Detectives started an investigation and it was revealed that the couple had been driven round various banks in Chorley, Blackburn and Manchester.
New accounts had been opened, requests were made to reactivate frozen accounts or to transfer various sums of money between accounts, all the while believing that ‘Gerry from the bank’ was helping them from losing their home
It was also found that their house – where they had lived for 40 years – had been sold on December 21 to a private company without their knowledge for less than the market value.
Bukhari was identified as a suspect and officers discovered he had made six trips to Dubai and Pakistan in three months often travelling in first and business class.
He was traced to Dubai and was arrested on February 11 when police found him in a business class seat on an Emirates flight at Manchester Airport.
He was found to be in possession of the couple’s identity documents and documentation relating to them and the fraudulent accounts.
Bukhari admitted fraud at an earlier hearing. He was jailed for seven years and 11 months.
Source: Read Full Article