Couple scammed people out of £250,000 by posing as police officers

A couple who duped vulnerable and elderly people out of £250,000 in a Scotland-wide scam after posing as police officers have been jailed.

Derek Moore also impersonated an officer to get his hands on two shotguns which were lawfully held by one of the victims of the bank scam he perpetrated against pensioners. He was jailed for 13 years and six months.

Moore’s former girlfriend Julie McQuade, 31, of Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, was jailed for two years and six months for her part in the scam.

A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh told 42 year old Moore: “The frauds which you perpetrated on elderly and vulnerable people were particularly cruel.”

Victims were persuaded that frauds were being perpetrated at bank branches and Moore was an investigator. In some cases their bank cards were taken from them.

Julie Ann McQuade was sentenced to 30 months Police Scotland

Lord Young said: “This was a highly sophisticated operation which involved significant levels of planning and deception.”

The judge said that given there was deliberate targeting of vulnerable people for a planned fraud culpability was high.

More than £280,000 was obtained or attempted to be obtained in the scam which occurred between August 2021 and February 2022 and took place in Ayrshire, Dundee, Renfrewshire, Musselburgh, in East Lothian and Shetland.

Moore, formerly of Rutherglen, 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.

He took possession of two of the guns masquerading as a police officer after it was discovered one of the fraud victims legally owned the weapons. This was done under the pretence that he was a police constable and had the authority to seize the firearms.

An 83-year-old woman was called by Moore pretending to be from her bank fraud team and she went to a bank branch in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, and withdrew £15,000 and went to the town’s railway station to hand the cash over to him. She was also induced to transfer a further £20,000 to another bank account.

Moore contacted one couple by phone and told the woman he was from her bank fraud team. He got them to attend at a luxury jeweller in Dundee to buy a watch before travelling to Glasgow to hand over the timepiece to him.

He also induced them to hand over the man’s bank cards and purchased a bracelet using a card and pin number. He also used them and the man’s driving licence in an attempt to get money from a Glasgow bank branch.

The victims were also persuaded to attend a bank in Perth and transfer £20,000 to another account.

A 70-year-old man in Dundonald, Ayrshire, was also contacted by the fraudster and persuaded to make transactions transferring money out of his account.

An 80-year-old woman attended a bank branch in Musselburgh High Street after being contacted by the fake investigator and transferred £15,000 to an account in the name of Priya Seta. Moore also got her bank cards, account numbers and pin numbers and withdrew £1,500 and attempted to withdraw a further £3,600.

An 85-year-old woman was also targeted in the scam and more than £80,000 was extracted from her after she attended bank branches in Lerwick to make transfers of money and online banking was set up in her name.

Police recovered heroin worth almost £2,000 and a further firearm at Moore’s flat in Rutherglen on February 18, 2022.

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”. He said that what brought Moore to court were matters that could be described as “pretty despicable”.

Kelly Duling, counsel for McQuade, maintained that she was a vulnerable person who had a traumatic background.

The pair originally stood trial at Ayr Sheriff Court and pleaded guilty during the proceedings. The sheriff, who can impose a maximum term of five years’ imprisonment, sent the case to the High Court because of its greater sentencing powers.