It is a widely-known and unfortunate fact that scammers are always lurking online observing and prying for new victims to defraud.
However, a UK-based father had never anticipated that such deceit would come from his own 42-year-old son.
Daniel Cuthbert is said to have emptied his grieving father’s wallet in excess of £56,000 (around R1,271,741), over the course of 14 months in 2017 and 2018 — including severance compensation.
The New York Post reported that his father questioned him about the missing money somewhere in the middle of 2017 after becoming suspicious about it.
However, the widower was too overcome with grief over his wife’s passing to pursue any further action.
According to the Preston Crown Court in Lancashire, England, in a series of telephone banking conversations, Cuthbert pretended to be both parents to get loans in his father’s name.
As a result of the loans, his father was completely blind-sided and he ended up losing his house.
“He put on a female voice on at least nine occasions leading to £9,000 (around R203,980) being transferred into his account,” reported Sky News.
Authorities were said to be able to get audio evidence that showed how Cuthbert posed as his mother to trick a bank call operator into thinking it was Mrs Cuthbert.
“This was a really despicable abuse of trust by this man who falsely represented his father and even his late mother, in order to commit fraud,” Sergeant Mike Rogers was quoted as saying.
“We hope this brings some closure to the victim who was put through a horrendous ordeal by his son only months after losing his wife,” Rogers said.
IOL
