Jail for fraudster who scammed pensioners out of £250,000

A man who posed as a bank fraud investigator to dupe pensioners and vulnerable people out of a total of £250,000 has been jailed for 13-and-half-years.

Derek Moore's scam targeted people in Ayrshire, Dundee, Renfrewshire, East Lothian and Shetland.

The 42-year-old also impersonated a police officer to obtain two shotguns which were lawfully held by one of the victims.

At the High Court in Edinburgh judge Lord Young told him: "The frauds which you perpetrated on elderly and vulnerable people were particularly cruel."

Moore's victims were persuaded that frauds were being carried out at bank branches and that he was an investigator.

Among the people he targeted between August 2021 and February 2022 were:

• An 83-year-old woman who withdrew £15,000 from her bank branch in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, then went to the town's railway station to hand over the cash to Moore. She was also induced to transfer a further £20,000 to another bank account.
• A couple who he persuaded to buy a watch from a luxury jeweller in Dundee before travelling to Glasgow to hand over the timepiece. Moore also induced them to hand over the man's bank cards, which he used to buy a bracelet. And he persuaded them to go to a bank in Perth and transfer £20,000 into another account.
• A 70-year-old man in Dundonald, Ayrshire, was persuaded to transfer money out of his bank account.
• An 80-year-old woman went to her bank branch in Musselburgh and transferred £15,000 to another account. Moore also got her bank cards, accounts numbers and pin numbers. He withdrew £1,500 and attempted to withdraw a further £3,600.
• More than £80,000 was taken from an 85-year-old woman who attended bank branches in Lerwick to transfer money and online banking was set up in her name.

Moore, of Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, admitted five charges of fraud committed while acting with others during an earlier hearing at Ayr Sheriff Court.

He also admitted two charges of illegal possession of shotguns and a further offence of being concerned in the supply of heroin.

The sheriff sent the case to the High Court because of its greater sentencing powers.

Sentencing him, Lord Young said: "This was a highly sophisticated operation which involved significant levels of planning and deception."

Moore's former girlfriend Julie McQuade, 31, of Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, was jailed for 30 months after she took part in the fraud against the woman in Shetland.

Defence counsel Graham Robertson, for Moore, said he previously worked as a chef, but suffered ill health in recent years.

He said there was no suggestion that Moore was the mastermind behind the criminal scheme and appeared to have been "very much a foot soldier".

He said that what brought Moore to court were matters that could be described as "pretty despicable".

Kelly Duling, counsel for McQuade, maintained that she was a vulnerable person who had a traumatic background.