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A heartless fraudster betrayed the trust of an elderly man - whose savings were spent on clothes and fast food while he lay in hospital.
Charlie Anderson befriended the victim, who was in his 70s, and was invited to stay with him in Deal after claiming he was homeless for Christmas.
When the victim was taken to hospital later that month in December 2018, Anderson visited him and was asked to withdraw a week’s worth of pension money on his behalf.
Anderson, of no fixed address, agreed but never returned the bank or pension card.
He instead provided them to other people, leading to the victim losing more than £3,350 - which was spent on shopping in Canterbury, fast food and car insurance.
Within days a fraudulent car insurance policy had been taken out using the victim’s bank card.
The cards were then used to withdraw £600 from multiple post offices in Canterbury.
There was also an attempt to buy £468 worth of goods from Sports Direct and food from a McDonald's drive-thru with the bank card.
Further transactions were registered at Argos and Morrisons and additional withdrawals were made from cash machines in the city throughout the rest of the month.
In total, £3,358 was withdrawn or spent from the victim’s accounts.
At Canterbury Crown Court last Friday, 24-year-old Anderson admitted conspiracy to commit fraud and received a 12-month prison sentence, which will begin after he completes the custodial sentence he is currently serving.
Financial investigator Stewart Ross-Cumming, who led the investigation, said: "This was a distressing betrayal of trust from Anderson, against an elderly man who needed a friend during a difficult time.
"Anderson passed up the opportunity to do something good, and instead enabled the use of the victim’s savings and pension by others.
"I hope he uses his further time in prison to realise just how appalling his actions were."
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