Court / Lengthy prison term for fraudster who duped elderly local woman out of more than £80k
A FRAUDSTER who duped vulnerable and elderly people out of £250,000 in a Scotland-wide scam – including an 85-year-old woman in Shetland – has been jailed for 13 and a half years.
Derek Moore posed as a bank fraud investigator during the scam.
A judge told Moore, 42, at the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday: “The frauds which you perpetrated on elderly and vulnerable people were particularly cruel.”
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.
In that instance an 85-year-old woman was targeted and more than £80,000 was extracted from her after she attended bank branches in Lerwick to make transfers of money and online banking was set up in her name.
Victims were persuaded that frauds were being perpetrated at bank branches and Moore was an investigator. In some cases their bank cards were taken from them.
Lord Young said: “This was a highly sophisticated operation which involved significant levels of planning and deception.
The judge said that given there was deliberate targeting of vulnerable people for a planned fraud culpability was high.
More than £280,000 was obtained or attempted to be obtained in the scam which occurred between August 2021 and February 2022 and took place in Ayrshire, Dundee, Renfrewshire, Musselburgh, in East Lothian and Shetland.
Moore, formerly of Chapel Street, Rutherglen, in South Lanarkshire, earlier admitted five charges of fraud committed while acting with others.
He also admitted two charges of illegal possession of shotguns and a further offence of being concerned in the supply of heroin.
He took possession of two of the guns masquerading as a police officer after it was discovered one of the fraud victims legally owned the weapons. It was done under the pretence that he was a police constable and had the authority to seize the firearms.
Elsewhere an 83-year-old woman was called by Moore pretending to be from her bank fraud team and she went to a bank branch in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, and withdrew £15,000 and went to the town’s railway station to hand the cash over to him.
She was also induced to transfer a further £20,000 to another bank account.
Moore contacted one couple by phone and told the woman he was from her bank fraud team. He got them to attend at a luxury jeweller in Dundee to buy a watch before travelling to Glasgow to hand over the timepiece to him.
He also induced them to hand over the man’s bank cards and purchased a bracelet using and card and pin number.
The victims were also persuaded to attend a bank in Perth and transfer £20,000 to another account.
Police recovered heroin worth almost £2,000 and a further firearm at Moore’s flat in Rutherglen on February 18 in 2022.
Defence counsel Graham Robertson said Moore 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.
The pair originally stood trial at Ayr Sheriff Court and pleaded guilty during the proceedings.
The sheriff, who can impose a maximum term of five years’ imprisonment, sent the case to the High Court because of its greater sentencing powers.
By Edinburgh Courts Press Services
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