Indian-origin elderly jailed for property fraud involving 16k pounds

London, June 3 (IANS) A 64-year-old Indian-origin man has been jailed for three years in the UK after he fleeced potential property buyers out of nearly GBP 16,000 (over Rs 16 lakh), the police said.

Jaspal Singh Juttla of Northwood, was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court last week for four counts of fraud by false representation and one count of carrying on a regulated activity when not authorised to do so.

The offences, which occurred between May 2019 and January 2021, relate to four victims, where property buyers were conned into handing over approximately 15,790 pounds.

Juttla claimed to be a mortgage adviser and offered to assist victims with property purchases, the UK Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

He would meet his clients -- who were predominantly Indian and some spoke little to no English -- at various locations in London, including Southall and Hayes. Some victims were targeted at open house viewings.

He often promised victims to fill out their mortgage applications, arrange a survey for them and put them in touch with a solicitor that would assist with a house purchase.

Once the victims paid the fee requested by Juttla, he would ask for more money to cover other services that he had made up. None of these services were carried out and all arrangements failed to surface for the property buyers, the police said.

On occasions, victims contacted him to ask what was going on, but Juttla would make up excuses in an attempt to put the victims at ease.

In some instances, Juttla did provide victims with a refund by bank transfer but it was never the full amount of the payments he had originally received.

Police came to know about Juttla's nefarious activities in January 2021, after Action Fraud received a crime report from one of his victims.

Following a thorough investigation, he was charged on 20 July 2022.

"Jaspal Singh Juttla is a persistent fraud who has exploited people in his own community, using their hard-earned money to fund his lifestyle," Detective Constable Anita Sharma, Financial Investigator in the Central Specialist Crime Unit, said.

"We are grateful to those victims who have been brave enough to come forward in this case but there may be other people conned by Juttla who have not spoken to police," Sharma said.

Financial investigators from the Met's Economic Crime team believe that there are other victims that have been scammed by the ruse and are yet to come forward.