Darren Warillow: Man admits scamming elderly women across Illawarra

A man tricked an elderly women out of thousands of dollars after posing as a government solar panel installer and an electricity company representative.

An Illawarra man has admitted to scamming three vulnerable elderly women, stealing more than $17,000 from them over just a few days.

Darren Warillow faced Wollongong Local Court from a jail cell where he is on remand on Wednesday, pleading guilty to stealing from dwelling; obtaining financial advantage by deception and aggravated enter with intent to commit serious indictable offence (namely obtain financial advantage by deception).

Warillow was arrested by police on February 20 last year, after he scammed three women, two of whom had dementia, out of thousands of dollars after posing as a government solar panel installer, a roofer and a representative from an electricity company.

Warillow’s first victim, Gladys Edwards, aged 88, labelled him a “low life” after he stole her handbag and withdrew $4000 from her bank accounts while posing as a solar panel installer.

Darren Warillow stole $4000 from Gladys Edwards (pictured).

Mrs Edwards was alone at her Oak Flats home on February 9 last year, when Warillow rang her doorbell and said “I’ve come to talk to you about the solar panels, I do repairs on solar and its government regulation to put a fuse in your meter box”.

In documents tendered to the court, it was revealed Warillow told her if she didn’t install the fuse, it could cause her, and her neighbour’s home to catch fire.

Mrs Edwards invited Warillow inside her home when he told her the panels also needed cleaning, which would cost $380. Confused, court documents state she went to verify what he’d said with her son over the phone in the next room. As she was on the phone, court documents state Warillow took off with her wallet.

Shortly after, Warillow called Mrs Edwards and told her “someone is trying to get into the ATM with your credit card and to stop them I need some information from you which includes the PIN and account number,” court documents state.

Thinking he was genuine and realising her wallet was gone, Mrs Edwards told the “operator” her PIN number.

Over the next several hours, Warillow withdrew $4000 from her bank accounts.

Warillow appeared at Wollongong Local Court on May 26. Picture: Steven Bell

Warillow continued his scamming two days later on February 11, when he frightened a 94-year-old woman with dementia into handing over cheques totalling more than $10,000.

According to court documents, Warillow entered the woman’s kitchen and told her he was with her electricity company, and that if she didn’t pay her outstanding bill of $8500, her power would be cut off.

Frightened, the woman handed over two cheques, one for $1850 and one for $8500. Over the next two days he cashed the cheques.

On February 13, court documents state the elderly woman notified her daughter about the man and the overdue bill, which prompted her to call police.

That same day Warillow again visited the bank and presented a cheque with the woman’s information. When the teller tried to cash the cheque, she realised an alert had been put on the system and contacted police. However, Warillow became angry at the teller due to the wait and took off, court documents said.

The third incident occurred on February 12, when Warillow and a mate turned up at a Mount Kembla home and handed the 81-year-old victim a flyer, offering to clean her gutters for $50.

Despite the gutters not requiring a clean, Warillow and his mate started working around her property, raising the price of work being undertaken at various times, according to the documents.

A little later that afternoon, Warillow demanded the woman pay him $3200, which she did despite the intervention of her neighbours.

Warillow was arrested a few days later on February 20, where he denied the allegations in an interview with police. However, on Wednesday he backflipped on those initial claims, pleading guilty to the charges.

He will be sentenced in the NSW District Court at a later date.