23 September 2023 , 14:25
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A romance swindler who conned unsuspecting single women out of thousands of pounds has avoided being sent to prison.
Khalid Mahmood of Redditch, Worcestershire sentenced to nine months in prison suspended for two years after pleading guilty to three counts of fraud by false representation and three counts of theft. The fraudster was ordered to pay £20,000 in compensation after being convicted at Inner London Crown Court on Wednesday.
The 44-year old was also told he must complete 200 hours of unpaid work and attend a rehabilitation requirement for 35 days. The court heard that Mahmood, who was reprimanded by cops after getting off a plane from Pakistan, used the same scam tactics on women he met on a dating website, according to BirminghamLive.
Mahmood met the first of victims outside London Kings Cross railway station in March, 2020. There, he offered her exclusive membership to a gold trading club if she paid him £6,000. And after she handed over the cash, he then told her she would need a passport photo before guiding her to a booth and offering to complete online forms on her behalf.
Mahmood was sentenced to nine months in prison suspended for two years at Inner London Crown Court (PA)By the time she had emerged from the booth, however, conman Mahmood had made off with the money and her phone, which he used to withdraw a further £200. His second victim fell foul of the crime eight months later, meanwhile, this time at Manchester Piccadilly station. In a second meeting at Euston station he pressured her into signing up for the same make-believe membership, and managed to steal £7,000 after sending her into a shop.
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In a third scam in July 2021, Mahmood travelled to Oxford where he attempted to convince a woman to take him up on the membership. After she refused and said she had no money, he later called her saying he had already signed her up and she just needed to pay a cut-price £4,000. The woman obliged, borrowing the money from her mum before handing over the cash at London Victoria station - where she withdrew another £300 on Mahmood's request.
Following his arrest in April last year British Transport Police's investigating officer Det Con Jennifer Brown said women had placed their trust in him. "Mahmood conned these women by building up their trust online and in phone calls before setting up the meeting and offering a too-good-to-be-true deal," she said. "Mahmood snared the women, none of whom could afford to lose the cash he stole from them, by promising potential riches from his connections to the gold trading market.
"Once we had Mahmood in our sights it was only a matter of time before he was brought to justice. Criminality of any kind will not be tolerated and we continue to work to deter those who operate criminal enterprises using the rail network."