Some people are prepared to do anything to get rich quick. While most take pride in working hard to earn a living, fraudsters have no shame in cheating and spinning outrageous lies to get what they want. This list of shame includes rogue builders who overcharged, lying boyfriends, and thieving accountants. Their victims range from long-established family businesses to vulnerable elderly individuals.
Some frauds are complicated and require fake documents, signatures and years of secretly squirrelling away cash. But frauds can also be as simple as a dodgy alias or using someone else's bank card. The repercussions of stealing large amounts of cash can be felt for many years. Some of the victims in this list lost their life savings or saw years of hard work taken away in a matter of weeks.
Sometimes the crimes are so serious that the defendant ends up in jail. Often they receive suspended sentences. Courts do their best to get the money back by ordering compensation or Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings but typically the stolen money has already been frittered away on fancy holidays, clothes or gambling debts.
Here DevonLive takes a look at some of the fraudsters to have been convicted recently. A Torquay builder was handed a 43-month custodial sentence and a Criminal Behaviour Order for 10 years after he pleaded guilty to running a fraudulent business. Daniel Denison, 60, of Kingsteignton, took a total of £135,000 from 18 victims between October 1 2016 and April 30 2018, spanning across Bristol, Bath, Exeter, Plymouth and other areas in the South West.
During the investigation, Mr Denison was found to be using ratedpeople.com to obtain leads for work and would send out a salesman to provide a quote for the job. However on gaining a customer, Mr Denison asked for a 10% deposit before disappearing for months without contact with completion deadlines passing before works even commenced. For eight victims, no works were ever carried out and no refund was ever forthcoming.
Other fraudsters include a cruel £1 million conman who mocked his victims after selling them non-existent cars, a 'despicable' boyfriend who defrauded his partner of more than £20,000, and a 'career conman' from Devon who swindled dozens of individuals, businesses and charities out of more than half a million pounds with a sophisticated advertising fraud.
