Men who scammed elderly woman out of thousands escape jail

The fraud - which saw the pair withdraw £2,800 from the pensioner's account - happened in 2019



Two men who took part in a conspiracy which emptied an elderly woman’s bank account after she was tricked into entering her pin number have escaped being jailed.

Ebrahim Cali (pictured) and Kelton Maddox worked in cahoots to withdraw £2,800 from the pensioners account after pretending to be from her bank, in 2019.

Ramya Nagesh, prosecuting, said that on 20 January 2019, the victim was told three payments had been made from her account to a person called Maddox. She said she hadn't made those payments and was coerced into entering her pin three times to undo each transaction.

Her bank notified her the following day informing her the account was now overdrawn to which she realised she had been tricked.

Cali, 24 of The Moorings, Coventry, and Maddox, 21, of Brightgreen Street, Stoke-on-Trent, had both pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to steal.

A judge at Warwick Crown Court sentenced them to four months in prison suspended for 12 months and ordered to do 50 hours of unpaid work each.

Miss Nagesh, who said that fortunately the woman’s bank has reimbursed her, added Maddox had convictions for possessing class A drugs and driving offences, but Cali was of previous good character.

Sentencing the two, Recorder William Edis QC, told them: “As long ago as January 2019 you both got together with another man to defraud people, and you did it in a manner which is the bane of modern life.

“You tried to con people out of their pin numbers. You may not have thought of it or bought the equipment, but you knew exactly where this money was coming from.

“You would have known that, if not elderly, they would have been the more vulnerable members of society.

“You did it for greed. You could easily have worked for it, but you were greedy and wanted easy money. For all we know, that was the last £2,800 she had in the world.

“You both knew what was behind it, and you were both in it up to your collective necks.

“This was quite sophisticated. It was so carefully planned that within five minutes of the first transfer you were there to withdraw it.

“You are both older and, I hope, wiser now. This case passes the custody threshold by some distance, but I do not think it justifies an immediate sentence.”

... I do not think it justifies an immediate sentence ...

I disagree with the judge.