Kye Harwood (pictured above) tricked his victims into believing he was helping a fraud investigation
A ‘cruel’ teenage conman has been jailed for two years after swindling elderly victims out of thousands of pounds in cash.
Kye Harwood was involved in a scam in which victims were tricked into believing detectives were investigating an ‘inside job’ at their local bank.
The 19-year-old collected cash from the elderly women who had been persuaded to withdraw huge sums from their banks, believing they were assisting in a police investigation.
He was only caught after a neighbour was concerned to see a vulnerable lady sat with thousands of pounds on her kitchen table, which was due to be collected by a man in a taxi.
Cardiff Crown Court heard that the elderly woman was one of three, aged between 81 and 97, who had been called by a man posing as a detective.
Harwood is not thought to have been the man posing as a detective and would not reveal the names of others involved to the police.
The sentencing hearing on Thursday was told that one of the victims, a 97-year-old from Cardiff, was contacted on February 5 from someone claiming to be ‘Detective Mason’.
He told her he was calling from New Scotland Yard and said her Visa card had been used to buy £600 worth of goods including a camera.
The piles of cash (pictured above) which were found down Harwood’s trousers when he was arrested by police
Prosecutor Andrew Kendall said the caller then gave her a phone number for her to call to check whether he was legitimate or not.
When she called the number, the person on the other end said Detective Mason was legitimate and confirmed her card had been used and that theft from her card was part of an ‘inside job’ at the bank.
She was then asked to withdraw money so it could be investigated for finger prints at a police laboratory in London.
She visited her local bank and withdrew £7,000, telling the cashier she was using the money to pay for work done on her bathroom.
After being contacted again she was told the money way fake and at 10pm the same day a man arrived at her home to collect the money.
On February 7, she was contacted again by the same man and was told to withdraw another £8,000. This money was collected the same day by another man, who was the defendant Harwood.
Mr Kendal said the same thing happened to two other women in the Cardiff area with Harwood attending two other addresses in the city on February 7.
He collected £4,600 from a second victim, 83, and £10,000 from a third victim, 81, bringing the total amount taken by Harwood to £22,600.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Harwood became involved in the fraud in order to pay off a drug debt to an organised crime gang in London.
In February this year, he came to Cardiff and carried out the role of a courier. He was arrested by the real police while attempting to get a taxi back to London and was found with £10,000 down his trousers.
Cardiff Crown Court (pictured above) heard Harwood became involved in the fraud in order to pay off a drug debt
Speaking after the hearing, South Wales Police said that thanks to the neighbour’s concern on February 7, an alert had been sent to local taxi firms to keep an eye out for a man matching the description.
Later on that day, Taxi firm Cab64 called police to report a man was trying to book a taxi to London from Penarth Road in Cardiff.
During the sentencing the court heard that Harwood was taken to Cardiff Bay police station and charged. He later pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by false representation.
There is no suggestion Harwood was behind the telephone calls or was involved in the February 5 collection. Out of the total amount taken by Harwood, £10,000 was recovered from his trousers and returned to the third victim but the remaining funds are unaccounted for.
Defence barrister Heath Edwards said Harwood, from London, was bullied at school and ‘fell in with the wrong crowd’ which brought him into contact with people higher up the chain of the operation.
When asked the names of the people who instructed him by the police, Harwood declined to tell them.
Sentencing, Judge David Wynn Morgan said the court was ‘sick and tired’ of the main perpetrators getting away ‘scot free’ through intimidation.
He added: ‘You now realise what happens when sophisticated criminals with no sense of shame and absolutely no conscience deliberately target vulnerable people and when the crime is carried out they sent people like you to collect the proceeds and to avoid being caught themselves.’
Harwood, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to a total of 24 months imprisonment.
Detective Constable Amy Evans, officer in the case, said: ‘This was a callous and cruel crime in which Harwood preyed on elderly people in our communities. These incidents have had a profound effect upon the victims and has left them questioning who they can trust.
‘I would like to thank the neighbours and the taxi firm who both alerted police to their suspicions. As a result of their information and assistance, officers were able to apprehend Harwood.
‘Unfortunately, Harwood is not the only criminal using this type of scam. This is a sophisticated scam which is being used nationally.
‘The fraudsters often tell their victims lies to relay to bank staff who question why they are wanting to withdraw significant amounts of cash – such as they are going to buy a car or are going on holiday.
‘The message is clear – the police will never contact you in this manner – we will never ask for money. All calls of this nature are a scam, and the person receiving the call should hang up as soon as possible and report it to us on 101.
‘I would urge those with elderly relatives or those who care for or know of senior citizens in the wider community who don’t have such support to make them aware of this scam.’