A fraudster lied to a woman that he was an American attorney and successful businessman who could make her money by investing her funds in the stock market. She transferred him £8,500 in instalments which he pocketed and spent.
Rodney Roberts, 37, of Cardiff, befriended his victim in July 2021 using the alias Paul Smith and convinced her into sending him thousands of pounds while promising her there would be no losses and she was set to make significant sums of money in investments. He also went to the extent of showing the victim an app which purported to show where her money was going.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard the victim became suspicious in August and asked the defendant what was happening with her money. On August 14 she received a message from the defendant's girlfriend of an article from the Hackney Gazette which reported on Roberts' conviction for defrauding a single mother out of £24,000 in 2016.
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Prosecutor Jac Brown said: "She was shocked and realised the defendant had been stealing her money." She tried to arrange a meeting with Roberts but he refused to pick up her phone calls. Eventually he agreed to meet her at a branch of Lloyds Bank on August 16, 2021, but claimed he his account had been stolen due to fraudulent activity.
When the victim explained to bank staff the situation she was told the defendant's had no money in his account, which was overdrawn. The police were called and Roberts was arrested. He told police his name was Paul Smith and when asked if he committed fraud he said: "Yes."
Roberts, of Harrison Drive, Trowbridge, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud. The court head he had five previous convictions all of which related to dishonesty including fraud and making a false representation to make a gain. He was previously sentenced to 20 months imprisonment for the offence in 2016. In a statement the victim described how Roberts "took advantage of her" as she was out of work at the time and she had given him her money with "trust".
In mitigation defence barrister Hashim Salmman said his client was struggling financially at the time from being out of work during the Covid-19 pandemic but had since found work as a television production manager. The defendant told the author of a pre-sentence report he had spent the victim's money on "useless things" and described his actions as "greedy, compulsive, and selfish".
Sentencing, Recorder David Payne said: "This was a classic confidence trick but it was not overtly sophisticated and involved direct payments being made into your bank account... Those who engage in confidence based frauds must expect an immediate custodial sentence and your record indicates a continuation of previous behaviour with breaks."
Roberts was sentenced to 36 weeks imprisonment. He was also ordered to pay £8,500 in compensation to the victim by July 2027.
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