An East London conman who fleeced £74,000 from a retired nuclear scientist and fled the country after his arrest has finally been jailed.
Klaudiusz Majewski, 49, of Wolsey Avenue, East Ham, duped the pensioner along with Avinash Kakumanu, Dinesh Alavala and Ranjit Nellikondi, all members of an organised crime gang that were convicted of fraud offences in 2018.
Majewski provided fraudulently opened bank accounts to accomplices based in London, using them to ‘cash out’ from call centre scams operating from India, police say.
The group would cold call elderly victims claiming to be from the National Crime Agency, pretending their devices were being used for crime and they needed to transfer funds elsewhere.
One victim, a 74-year-old with tongue cancer, carried out a number of transactions, believing he was the victim of money laundering. Detectives seized around £120,000 and managed to return the majority of stolen money to the victim, who has since died.
Thanks to the City of London Police Cyber Crime Unit, Majewski was charged with a number of fraud offences.
But on police bail, Majewski fled the country to avoid prosecution. London cops worked with German police to have him arrested and extradited back to the UK in March this year. He later pleaded guilty to multiple fraud offences and was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Detective Inspector Michael O’Sullivan from the City of London Police said: “The victim in this case has unfortunately passed away, but we did not give up in our relentless pursuit of justice. Majewski will now answer for his crimes.
“Although this heinous act took place many years ago, we have not forgotten and will not forget victims of fraud.”
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