A security guard who posed as a businessman to con a lonely woman in a romance scam has been jailed for three years.
Qaiser Saeed, 40, of Botwell Lane, Hayes, was sentenced on Tuesday (7) at Isleworth Crown Court for fraud by false representation, the Met Police said.
In May 2013, Saeed had befriended a 39-year-old woman via an online dating site. In four months, he constructed a series of lies including that he was a single man who owned his own company, the court heard.
He also claimed that his bank account had been frozen as he was a victim of fraud. Saeed convinced the woman to transfer large sums of money into his account that he claimed would pay his employees’ wages until his account was unfrozen, the Met Police statement added.
Saeed was a married man with children who worked as a security guard.
According to the police, the victim had given him £47,650 in total.
Saeed was previously found guilty of the offence by a jury at Barbican Nightingale Court on September 3, 2020.
Detectives first arrested him on April 10, 2014, on suspicion of fraud but after he was freed on bail he fled the country to Pakistan.
Five years later, on September 30, 2019, he flew into Heathrow on a student Visa and was arrested at the airport. Saeed was charged the following day with fraud by false representation.
“Qaiser Saeed wilfully deceived the victim telling lie upon lie in order to deceive her into parting with her money. Scammers, such as Saeed, are skilled liars who weave a complex web of falsehoods in order to manipulate vulnerable or trusting people, playing on their emotions before taking their money under false pretences," said Detective Sergeant James Harbour.
"Anyone can fall victim, regardless of age or gender. It is not unusual for victims to feel too embarrassed to tell police or a trusted person, or they may continue to believe that the suspect is telling them the truth as the reality of being scammed by someone they cared about is too difficult to contemplate.
He also urged people who have fallen victim to this type of fraud to get in touch with the police.
