A prolific fraudster who conned a Lerwick pensioner out of their life savings as part of a massive crime spree has been jailed for more than 13 years.
Derek Moore embarked on a calculated campaign to impersonate police officers and dupe vulnerable victims out of hundreds of thousands – and used shotguns in a bid to convince people he was legit.
The scammer, of Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, got hold of a list of elderly people across Scotland and would cold call them to attempt his scam.
He would tell his targets that their bank account had been compromised by criminals – and that they must immediate action or their savings would vanish.
Moore, 42, claimed to be a cop and used an authoritative tone to convince his marks that they had to go to their bank branch urgently.
He told them that they had to withdraw certain amounts and leave the branch without telling staff about the fraud.
Moore would then instruct his victims to go to another location and hand over the funds to either himself or an accomplice ‘for safe keeping’.
One of those victims was an 85-year-old woman from Lerwick.
A Scotland-wide scam netting £250,000 of victims’ cash
Moore executed the plan to scare the pensioner into thinking her funds were at risk – and persuaded her to hand over cash totalling £49,000.
The fraudster also persuaded the victim to set up an online bank account – and to transfer another totalling £31,000 to various accounts.
And this was far from Moore’s only offending.
In a Scotland-wide scam that took place between August 2021 and February 2022 , he told people in six locations across the country he was a fraud investigator and scammed them out of more than £250,000.
One of the people he targeted legally owned two shotguns – and Moore got hold of those to help his frauds along.
Another victim – an 83-year-old woman. from the Central Belt, was duped into withdrawing £15,000 from her bank and handing it over to Moore at a rail station.
She went onto transfer another £20,000.
Meanwhile, Moore persuaded a couple he was from a bank fraud team and convinced them to buy a watch from a luxury jeweller in Dundee before travelling to Dundee and give it to him.
The couple were so convinced of Moore’s authority they gave him a driving licence and bank card, which he used to buy a bracelet.
Fraudster was a chef who suffered ill health
Moore also persuaded them to head to Perth and transfer another £20,000 from another bank branch.
Moore earlier admitted five charges of fraud committed while acting with others.
He also admitted two charges of illegal possession of shotguns and a further offence of being concerned in the supply of heroin.
Defence counsel Graham Robertson, for Moore, said he previously worked as a chef, but suffered ill health in recent years.
He said there was no suggestion that Moore was the mastermind behind the criminal scheme and appeared to have been “very much a foot soldier”.
Sentencing Moore to 13-and-a-half years prison today, the judge in the case, Lord Young said: “This was a highly sophisticated operation which involved significant levels of planning and deception.”
Read our fraud investigation
“The frauds which you perpetrated on elderly and vulnerable people were particularly cruel.”
Moore’s former girlfriend Julie McQuade of Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, also admitted involvement in that fraud.
Kelly Duling, counsel for McQuade, maintained that she was a vulnerable person who had a traumatic background.
McQuade, 31, of Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, was jailed for 30 months after she took part in the fraud against the woman on Shetland.
Our previous investigation into bank fraud revealed almost 100 people from the north-east, Highlands and Islands fall victim to this kind of fraud each year and lose more than £1 million.
Read more here – and learn how you can protect yourself and your loved ones from this kind of fraud.
After today’s hearing, Detective Inspector Ross Black said: “Moore and McQuade targeted the elderly and vulnerable members of our communities, and it is right that they will now face the consequence of their despicable actions.
“We want to take this opportunity to remind members of the public to be aware of scams and take precautions to avoid becoming a victim.
‘If in doubt, hang up’
“These scams are not always easy to spot and anyone can be fooled.
“These criminals are experts at impersonating people, organisations, and the police. Often they have details about a person they shouldn’t convincing people they are legitimate.
“If in doubt hang up and contact the bank using the phone number on the back of your card or official paperwork.
“If the caller is genuine, they will understand your hesitation, don’t feel pressured to handing over details or withdrawing money.”
He urged anyone who thinks they may have fallen victim to a scam to call 101 and to click here for scam prevention advice.