A Derby farmer was scammed out of the bulk of his life savings by ruthless con artists posing at TV licence officials. Derby Crown Court heard how the group tricked the victim into giving them his bank details.
The fraudsters were then able to access his ISA savings account and transferred £20,000 from it into an account belonging to David Lloyd gym instructor Gracious Sibanda. The sentencing hearing for the 24-year-old, who is now an Amazon delivery driver, was told how he is the only one of the scammers to have been brought to justice.
And in a victim impact statement, the farmer told how he has never got his money back and had to borrow cash and sell animals to keep his business afloat. Handing the defendant a 14-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, Recorder Richard Davies said: “(The victim) was effectively defrauded out of £20,000.
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“This was not done by you, it was done by a third party to which you gave your assistance by allowing them to use your bank account to launder the money. I have seen the victim impact statement made by (the farmer) who says it was something close to his life savings that you assisted in swindling him out of. He has had to borrow money to make good the money that was taken by you.”
Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said the fraudsters telephoned the victim in 2019 telling him they were from the TV licence renewal team and saying they would send him a link by email that he…
