The sometimes murky world of ‘property sourcing’ is under the spotlight again following a jail sentence for a fraudster who had claimed to be a property investor but instead scammed investors for at least £113,000.
Jason Cunningham, of Cardigan, Wales, has been given a four-and-a-half-year sentence at Reading Crown Court following the ten-week trial which took place this summer.
Refused refunds
The 39-year-old conned 15 customers out of non-refundable fees on properties after many ‘property sourcing’ deals collapsed and he refused to give refunds, BBC News reports.
He used forged documents, tenancy agreements and WhatsApp messages to mislead victims and landlords using multiple property businesses he ran from a run-down house on Craven Road, Newbury, Berkshire (main image).
Profit and greed
Ian Wright, Operations Manager for the National Trading Standards (NTS) Tri Regional Investigation Team, who led the inquiry into the offending, said “profit and greed” were central to Cunningham’s criminality.
And Tom McCann, Executive Member for Public Safety at West Berkshire Council, said Cunningham’s victims had “suffered significant financial harm and stress since the fraud took place”.
Cunningham was earlier found guilty of two counts of fraudulent trading and five counts of using a false instrument in August following a nine-week trial.
He was previously convicted of unfair trading in 2015, the council said.