Callous pair conned vulnerable pensioners across Scotland out of £250k

Two callous fraudsters who teamed up to scam pensioners across Scotland out of £250,000 are facing jail.

Derek Moore, 42, and Julie McQuade, 31, were part of an organised criminal fraud that raked in thousands from vulnerable victims.

The fraud totalled £252,800 and the offences were committed in Ayr, Dundee, Perth, Glasgow, Johnstone, Musselburgh and Lerwick.

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The heartless pair had gone on trial at Ayr Sheriff Court where they denied a string of offences between August 2021 and February 2022.

But Moore eventually pled guilty to eight fraud charges while McQuade admitted one charge.

Moore also admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin at his flat in Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, in February 2022, and also being in possession of a shotgun.

In one incident Moore pretended to be a member of a bank’s fraud team in Dundonald, Ayrshire, and convinced a 70-year-old man to transfer separate sums of £20,000 to two accounts.

He went to the man’s home address and impersonated a police officer which caused the man to attend the RBS branch in Kilmarnock and transfer a further £10,000 into a third bank account.

In a separate charge, Moore admitted phoning an 83-year-old woman and getting her to attend the RBS branch in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, to withdraw £15,000, before travelling to Johnstone railway station where she handed over the cash to him.

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Moore further targeted a 76-year-old woman and her 75-year-old husband in Dundee and pretended to be a member of a fraud team from the woman’s bank.

He got her to buy a watch at a jeweller’s shop and then to travel to Glasgow to hand over the item.

He also got the same couple to hand over their bank cards and driving licence and purchase a bracelet at another jewellery store in Glasgow.

Moore and McQuade admitted conning an 85-year-old woman in Lerwick out of a total of £31,900 in seven separate instalments.

Sheriff Shirley Foran took the rare move of sending the case to the High Court for sentencing after deciding she did not have sufficient powers for the case.

Moore, of Rutherglen, was remanded in custody while McQuade, of Cambuslang, had her bail continued.

A hearing has been scheduled to take place on August 1 at the in Edinburgh.

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