A Edinburgh fraudster cruelly conned an 86-year-old man out of his savings by pretending to be a tax collector.
Mohammed Baig left the pensioner "panicked" that he owed outstanding taxes and tricked him into parting with £1,800.
The 33-year-old, who appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday, convinced his victim to withdraw the money from his bank account after calling his home in the city, reports the Daily Record.
However he was caught after bank staff because suspicious of the large withdrawal and alerted police.
Baig was appearing in court with his co-accused Abdul Sajjad. Sajjad admitted dragging two police constables alongside his car when he tried to flee them. The 33-year-old also pled guilty to hitting another officer with the vehicle to her injury when trying to escape.
Fiscal depute Anna Robertson said Baig called at the victim’s address in the Mountcastle area to collect a “large sum of money”. Ms Robertson said the retiree had earlier been contacted over the phone by Baig who told him his name was ‘Jason’.
The court heard Baig claimed the man owed £1800 in unpaid taxes and gave various reasons why the sum was outstanding. The prosecutor said the victim was “panicked and concerned”.
Baig told him that he’d call at his home, give a personal code, and the victim should hand over the funds in a white envelope.
The money was collected but workers at Clydesdale Bank noticed the withdrawal and called police due to their customer’s “age and vulnerability”, the court heard.
Baig, of Birmingham, admitted carrying out the fraud by pretending to be a “lawful collector of taxes” on September 25 2019.
The court heard how on the next day in Mountcastle, Sajjad was in a Ford Galaxy car when police officers approached the vehicle.
Ms Robertson said they opened the driver’s side door and told Sajjad to get out.
She said: “He did not comply. He placed the car in gear and drove off at speed while the police officers were still holding the door handles.”
Pc Ross Dunn and Pc Ryan Webster were “pulled alongside the car for a short distance”, Ms Robertson added.
The officers went to their unmarked police car and pursued Sajjad, also of Birmingham, onto a nearby road in the city’s Northfield.
Officers again approached the Galaxy and Sajjad tried to manoeuvre to escape, striking Pc Shona MacKay on the leg while doing so.
He then "admitted defeat" and complied with police requests to turn off the engine.
Defence agent Murray Robertson, representing Baig, said his client was “very well aware” that a custodial sentence would be in the mind of Sheriff Kenneth Campbell QC.
Sheriff Campbell deferred sentence until next month for reports.
