Mohamed Koita was sentenced yesterday
Mohamed Koita, 22, of Clandon Road, was sentenced yesterday to six months’ imprisonment for the crimes he committed in December 2019 and February 2020.
The first of the crimes was committed on Wednesday, 18 December 2019.
A 70-year-old man from Bromley received a phone call from a person claiming to work for a bank.
The caller said there were issues with the victim’s bank card and that he needed to return it to them by post, before saying that one of their collection teams would be in the area tomorrow and they would pick it up.
The following day, Koita called at the victims address, claiming to be from the collection team.
The victim was holding his debit card in his hand, but becoming wary of Koita, told him that he had changed his mind and would deliver the card to the bank in person. At this, Koita snatched the card from the victim’s hand and fled.
Around twenty minutes later £20 was debited from the victim’s bank account at a petrol station. Further payments to a clothing company for £1965 and a £500 cash withdrawal were blocked by the bank.
On viewing the footage of the petrol station where the £20 had been used to purchase fuel, officers saw Koita on the CCTV, wearing a distinctive red puff jacket that was later found during a search of his home address.
The second crime followed a similar pattern but, on this occasion, the victim was an 84-year-old woman from Dorset.
Detective Scott Pounder, of the Met’s North East Economic Crime Unit, said: “These were cowardly crimes committed against vulnerable elderly victims.
“Crimes of this type can go unreported due to victim’s feeling embarrassed that they had been duped by the fraudsters, but this should not be the case. Koita had fed layers of calls and information to the victims in these two incidents, each call or detail further reinforcing the impression that he was genuine
“Given the overwhelming evidence gathered against him, it was only right that Koita entered guilty pleas. This, at least, prevented the victims from going through a trial process.
“Although no physical injuries were inflicted, the effects of becoming a victim of crime, particularly within your own home, run far deeper than a loss of cash or property.
“I hope that the sentence handed down affords the victims some closure to what were clearly deeply upsetting incidents.”
Koita was already behind bars, having been jailed in July for five counts of fraud by false representation.
His other offences were committed in December 2019 and January 2020, targeting elderly people who lived around Chelmsford.
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