A gambling addict defrauded nearly £14,000 in a tax rebate scam by abusing his position of trust while tasked with overseeing payments to self-employed security guards.
Dean Townsend, 28, of Parkers Court, Runcorn, appeared at Chester Crown Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to one count of fraud over the ruse, which took place in 2020.
Philip Clemo, prosecuting, said Townsend had taken a job in which he was responsible for handling the admin to pay self-employed security guards as part of contracts for looking after homeless people in hotels.
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Among them was Emma Calthorpe, who worked there briefly and on July 11, 2020, received an email from the Government Gateway’s online filing website for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), saying someone had tried to change her email address.
She dismissed the message as a “phishing” attempt - meaning a scam in which someone sends a fake but official-looking email in a bid to trick them into handing over their private details. Eventually she found herself locked out of her account and was "suspicious" of a multi-factor authentication request she also thought might be a scam.
On August 18 when she tried to log in and couldn’t, she rang “various people” and was put through to a fraud agent who said her “account had been compromised”. She discovered her information had been “manipulated” to make it look like she had paid too much tax, and this bogus “overpayment” had been paid to bank accounts linked to Townsend.
Four payments were made, totalling £13,910.73, all of which had either been withdrawn or sent to other accounts. Townsend was interviewed by Cheshire Police twice, answering “no comment” most of the time and initially denying he knew the victim, but later admitting he had known her.
Townsend later pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation.
The incident left his victim Ms Calthorpe feeling “paranoid” and prompted her to upgrade her laptop security, and she was “worried” about who might have access to her details She said that when she managed to “get through to HMRC”, she “had difficulty in speaking to a senior officer”, but she had also reported it to Action Fraud and the police.
Ms Calthorpe learned the authorities had been “inundated” with similar issues to her own plight. The overall experience was “extremely stressful” for her.
Mr Clemo said: “HMRC has not been as helpful as she would have liked.”
Judge Simon Berkson, presiding, said that although cash was taken from HMRC, he said Ms Calthorpe was the “true victim” and her life had endured a “serious detrimental effect”.
Judge Berkson placed the offence in the higher sentencing bracket for culpability due to Townsend’s breach of trust, use of private details, and the “sophisticated” nature of the scam. Stuart Mills, defending, pleaded mitigation for his client’s early guilty plea and previous good character with no previous convictions.
He said Townsend’s fraud was due to a “gambling addiction”, which had left him thinking only of his “selfish needs”. Arguing for a suspended prison sentence, Mr Mills said Townsend wanted to pay off his gambling debt and any compensation, which was possible due to him living at home with his mother and having found another full time job.
He said Townsend has quit gambling, telling the court: “He tells me these proceedings have brought all of this home to him, and he’s come to a crashing realisation he can’t engage himself in gambling any further and he’s cut himself off from all venues for gambling. He’s shut his online accounts.”
Judge Berkson said the fraud involved “significant planning” and had “significantly impacted” Ms Calthorpe but Townsend “had no interest in that whatsoever” because he wanted to “obtain money for a gambling addiction that had taken over your life”. Judge Berkson sentenced Townsend to 18 months in prison, to be served immediately.
During his sentencing remarks, and with reference to Townsend’s victim’s Government Gateway account, Judge Berkson said: “Little did she know you had manipulated her details in such a way you could get on her HMRC portal as if you were her and then obtain from HMRC enough information to allow them to pay out, to you, pretend-overpayments they had made to her totalling nearly £14,000 in four separate payments.”
He added: “In my judgement, appropriate punishment can only be applied by a period of immediate imprisonment.” Townsend had previously pleaded not guilty to a charge of unauthorised computer access with intent to commit other offences.
The count was ordered to lie on file at Chester on Thursday. Cheshire Police refused to provide a custody photograph of Townsend to the ECHO.
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