Serial criminal who scammed £1.2m from vulnerable pensioners jailed for ten years

A serial criminal who “took a wrecking ball” to the lives of vulnerable pensioners in a sophisticated banking scam has been sentenced to ten years

Azeem Mohammed was central to a so-called “vishing” scam which saw eight unwitting OAPs swindled out of a total of almost £1.2m.

The 35-year-old appeared in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday.

Mohammed pled guilty – via his KC Mark Moir – to eight fraud charges over a two-year period.

Lord Arthurson told him he was involved in “targeted and predatory” offences.

The judge added: “Regarded as a whole, this case, in my view, represents one of the worst frauds of this nature to come before the courts.

“This is a case with multiple, very real victims and, similarily real, quantifable loss.”

Mohammed was previously jailed for six years and nine months in Manchester in 2024 after £1m was taken from other elderly victims in the same manner.

He was hit with another almost four-year term at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in February 2026 for his role in a “fraudulent scheme”.

The latest ten-year term will run from Friday.

Lord Arthurson further said: “You are a serial and committed fraudster – a professional scammer.

“You pursued a despicable criminal project against some of the most vulnerable in our society, taking a wrecking ball to their lives, their families and the wider community.”

The crimes occurred between 2022 and 2024 against pensioners mainly based in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

“Vishing” sees scammers use calls and messages to trick people into giving away sensitive information.

The first OAP was 86 at the time.

He got a call supposedly from his bank’s fraud team claiming his account was hacked.

The pensioner was given “instructions”.

He went to initially transfer £19,500 to another account. The man told his daughter who was concerned enough to call police.

An 89-year-old man was then targeted.

Prosecutor Ruaraidh Ferguson stated: “During calls, he was convinced to provide personal information about his bank account and his personal life including personal details.”

Mohammed – posing as Stephen from a bank fraud unit – told the man only to deal with him during any supposed probe.

The OAP went on to be bombarded with twice daily calls.

This victim went to discover £165,000 had been stolen from his account in the space of a week in May 2022.

Mr Ferguson said: “The man’s daughter was on holiday in Australia when she received an email from an address she associated with her father.

“These emails were abusive and included the message: ‘I scammed your father of GBP165k’.”

An 88 year-old man – who has since passed away – was conned out of £55,900.

This included being ordered to package cash and post it to an address in Glasgow.

Mohammed then preyed on a 77-year-old woman who was warned of apparently “suspicious activity” on her account.

He gained her “trust” leading her to believe she was in contact with a genuine bank worker.

She was latterly told to go into her branch and claim “transactions” on her account were in relation to a house purchase.

Mr Ferguson said: “She refused to do this as she did not want to lie to the bank employees.”

The woman went on to tell her husband. He later picked up a call from Mohammed who brazenly boasted of “scamming” his wife.

It emerged a total of £175,000 had been taken from her.

An 82-year-old man was told a “large sum” of his cash had been sent to Nigerian fraudsters.

Mohammed even pinned the blame on a bank worker.

The court heard Mohammed took out a sizeable loan in the man’s name.

This unwitting pensioner was duped out of a total of £130,248.

The next victim was an 85-year-old man who was lied to that banks in Aberdeen had been targeted by conmen.

He was told at one stage to expect a call from a “PC Margaret Anne” at the “Grampian Police Fraud Unit”.

The OAP grew suspicious of cash transfers he was being told to make.

This man had £230,747 swindled from him.

An 84-year-old woman was pestered to send money from two accounts to another that she did not have access to.

The court heard a total of £99,482 was taken in just a month.

Mohammed went on to hound a 79-year-old man by phone and WhatsApp.

He was also told to move his money to two accounts that he had been instructed to open.

This totalled £333,292 stolen over a number of weeks.

Mohammed was identified during a large-scale probe by the City of London Police.

His then-home in Salford was searched in April 2024.

Mr Ferguson said: “Two mobile phones were seized and found to contain information concerning each of the victims, pieces of their personal information and their banking arrangements.”

There were also other incriminating details such as recordings of telephone calls.

The court was told around £295,000 taken has still to be reimbursed to the victims.