Con Fare: Teenaged Grifter Uses Limos In £250,000 Scam
HAVE you ever met a “smooth-talking” 13-year old? What about one passing himself off as a “high-flying tycoon”.
No small news on the Mirror’s front page that all teenagers are not stoned monosyllabic goons going about in hoods, extracting pension books with menaces.
Granted, they will steal your money and skin your first born but they will do it with charm and guile. All hail the “£215,000 CONMAN AGED 13”.
Travelling about London and the environs in a chauffeur-driven limousine, his adolescent frame clad in a designer suit, the boy, now aged 16, sets about his con.
Things begin when his mum dies. Our hero, sorry, villain, uses part of his £16,000 legacy to buy crime books. And, “The ‘CATCH ME IF YOU CAN’ KID” watches the film Catch Me If You Can, starring Leonardo di Caprio as a teenage con artist.
He creates a website offering non-existent plasma televisions at a cheap price.
The money begins to pour in. He stops going to school. This scam is now a fulltime job.
He rents offices in London. He hires a man in is 50s and a woman in her 20s. He leaves the offices owing £8,0000 in rent. He pays no wages.
He moves into another office and hires new staff. And again he pays no rent.
Police are called. He is traced to new premises in Richmond, London. He sees the law approach and flees.
He is finally arrested in October 2004. He is bailed.
He opens a bank account in the name Gemma. He runs up a £7,293 bill with Beverley Hills Cars. He opens up four accounts and big unpaid debts at Radio Cars, including one in the name Ellen.
He sets up another company, offering discount office supplies online. He hires a PA and a vice president.
A man turns up at his home asking for his money back. The boy threatens to tell the police the customer has “fiddled” with him. “You can’t touch me, I’m a minor,” he tells others.
And now the boy has admitted to 16 charges of fraud totalling £50,000. And 105 more charges worth around £135,000 have been taken into account. Police believe the real sum is closer to £250,000.
The boy has also run a modelling website and a dating agency. And is now employed running an online lingerie service. All above board and strictly kosher, says his nine-year-old brief, available from Discount-Law.com…
Posted: 3rd, May 2007 | In: Strange But True Comments (6) | TrackBack | Permalink
