A heartless romance fraudster who swindled more than £30,000 from a pensioner has been ordered to pay back just £1.
Cheryl Joss, also known as Mitchell, used her ill-gotten gains to buy designer clothes, holidays and expensive gifts for herself after scamming the 84-year-old man.
The 41-year-old was handed a 52-month prison sentence in August this year over the offences.
But a confiscation hearing at Aberdeen Sheriff Court has now concluded that Joss’ assets amount to “nil”.
Joss found pensioner on dating site
As a result, Sheriff Morag McLaughlin had no option but to grant a confiscation order for the nominal sum of £1.
This came despite Joss’ total benefit from the criminal conduct amounting to £30,763.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was previously told Joss – who has a string of previous convictions for crimes against the elderly – displayed a “poor attitude to her offending behaviour” and “is unable to say why she does these things”.
The court was taken through the harrowing details of how Joss, of HMP Grampian, targeted the pensioner after finding him on dating site Match.com
As the fake relationship continued between October 14 2021 and February 11 last year, Joss spun lies claiming her sister was sick but in reality, she went to Tenerife with her fiance.
She begged the pensioner for financial help and tried to take out personal and vehicle loans in his name without his knowledge.
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