Pravin Mainali: Nepalese student defrauded man at Castle Hill retirement village
A Nepalese student told police an ad on Gumtree introduced him to the ‘man on the phone’, who helped him defraud an elderly Alzheimer’s sufferer in The Hills of $5000.
Hills Shire
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Nepalese student Pravin Mainali told police he was working for the “man on the phone” when they arrested him for defrauding an elderly Alzheimer’s sufferer of $5000.
Nepalese student Pravin Mainali told police he was working for the “man on the phone” when they arrested him for defrauding an elderly Alzheimer’s sufferer of $5000.
Mr Mainali, 20, pleaded guilty to the offence at Burwood Local Court yesterday.
Police will allege in court Mr Mainali, who has been in the country since November 2018, was part of a fraud syndicate targeting elderly residents in retirement homes.
Mr Mainali and a co-accused called the 86-year-old man, pretending to work at Westpac, and told him his card had been fraudulently accessed.
Mr Mainali, an information technology student, then went to the Anglican retirement village in Castle Hill where his elderly victim lived, to collect the card.
He told the victim his name was “Josh”.
The victim handed over his MasterCard and pin details, urged on by an accomplice on the phone.
Over the next two days, Mr Mainali twice withdrew $2000 cash from cash machines in Burwood and Castle Hill, purchased cigarettes and a Powerade from Woolworths.
With his co-accused, he also bought a Stussy cap and T-shirt, and Revolver jeans from General Pants in Parramatta Westfield, as well as Nike sports shoes from Footlocker, and JBL Bluetooth speakers from JB Hi-Fi.
In January, the 86-year-old victim reported to The Hills police that his bank account had been fraudulently accessed, and an investigation ensued.
Police arrested Mr Mainali about 3.15pm on March 3 in Burwood and he was charged with nine counts of obtain financial advantage by deception and one count of deal with identity information to commit an indictable offence.
He pleaded guilty to all ten counts at Burwood Local Court yesterday.
When questioned by police, Mr Mainali said he came to work for this “man on the phone” after responding to a Gumtree advertisement.
He told police his job was to “collect the package from the elderly clients and make the withdrawals on the card for them” before transferring the money to the “man on the phone”.
He said he would use the Money-gram machine at 7-Eleven to transfer money to a State Bank of India account.
The items he bought for himself and his friends, he said, would come out of the commission he was to receive from “the man on the phone”.
Police allege the victim’s landline and name is listed in the white pages, and that he has been regularly contacted by scammers.
A total of $4537 in purchases were made on the victim’s card by Mr Mainali and the co-accused, which were captured on CCTV.
Mr Mainali was denied bail at Burwood Local Court yesterday, considered by police as an “unacceptable risk” to the community, with fears he could interfere with witnesses or evidence, or commit another serious offence.
As a Nepalese citizen, and with limited community ties, the court heard he was also considered a flight risk.
The matter will return to Burwood for sentencing on April 14.