Granny Trap: 92-year-old lures £61,300 conmen into jail

A 92-year-old woman conned out of more than £60,000, has had the last laugh on the two men who tricked her, when she put them in jail after luring them into a police trap.

The elderly woman initially fell victim to ‘courier fraud’ after a fraudster called her home pretending to be a detective and claimed her bank account had been hacked.

Mohammed Butt persuaded the pensioner to withdraw £8,300 in cash “for examination” and hand it to Zohaib Khalid – a student paid to pretend to be a police courier on 19 July last year. Later that day, Butt called her landline and talked the woman into buying two Rolex watches from a jewellers – with a total value of £53,000 – and pass them to Khalid.

Suspecting she’d been tricked, the woman alerted West Midlands Police. She then toyed with the fraudster offering Butt £13,700 more when he phoned her for money for his 'undercover operation' the following day. But this time, police officers were lying in wait to arrest Khalid when he came to her home in Solihull to collect the money.

On 14 February, Butt was jailed for four and a half years and Khalid was handed a three-year prison sentence at Birmingham Crown Court.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Richard Taberner, said: “She did brilliantly in alerting us once she realised she’d been tricked – and then played her part in luring Khalid back to her home and allowing us to catch him in the act."

Nearly £1,000 in cash has been returned to the pensioner and – if she is unable to be compensated through her bank – Detective Taberner said: “We’ll be pushing for a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) case against the offenders to recover money on her behalf.”

Examination of Khalid’s phone led police to identify Butt as the mastermind behind the scam and he was arrested at his London home on 16 August. Butt’s phone enabled detectives to trace more people who’d received fraud phishing calls from him. Both denied conspiring to commit fraud initially– with Aston University student Khalid saying he was unaware of the scam but later admitted the offence.

Khalid was paid £500 by Butt for each trip and agreed a collection password with the victim in a bid to give the scam more authenticity.

Detective Taberner added: “He claimed to be merely acting as a courier and had no knowledge of the scam – but we found web searches on his phone relating to sentencing guidelines for fraud so it’s clear he suspected he was committing an offence.

“These types of offences are truly despicable: offenders target elderly victims and exploit their vulnerabilities to trick them into handing over money.”

‘Courier fraud’ works by scammers calling and pretending to be police officers and claiming suspicious activity on an individual's bank account. West Midlands Police are warning the public to be vigilant against scams against the elderly in their homes.

In a statement, West Midlands Police stated: 'Some people fall for the scam because they believe the bogus PC’s story has been verified by a follow-up call to their bank – but because the scammers don’t hang up the victim is unwittingly still speaking to them and not a bank official.

'Police officers or genuine bank officials would never ask anyone to divulge PIN numbers over the phone or send couriers round to collect cards or cash. If you receive a call requesting this, hang up and contact police – but check for an open line or ideally call from a different phone.'