Victorian man charged with trying to fleece 93yo woman in Western Australia out of $58,000

A 25-year old Melbourne man has told a court he was conned into collecting money from an elderly woman in Perth during an alleged elaborate scam.

A Victorian man accused of attempting to scam $58,000 from a 93-year old Western Australian woman has claimed in court he was conned into collecting the money by another person.

Haaris Khan Abid, 25, appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday to face charges of intent to defraud by deceit and gain benefit.

Police allege the 93-year old woman, who lives in South Perth, was contacted several times by Mr Abid on the phone, pretending to be investigating hackers that were trying to access her bank account.

He allegedly instructed the woman to withdraw thousands of dollars from her bank so they could proceed with the investigation, and told her a person called Alex would go to her home to collect the money.

The court heard the woman received several phone calls from the alleged scammer, who told her she needed to make arrangements to withdraw cash from her bank to bring down the syndicate.

She was also allegedly told that she should tell her bank that the money was for an investment property so she would not draw suspicion.

A 25-year-old man has been charged over an alleged scam that fleeced a woman out of $58,000. File image

The woman went to her bank and withdrew $9500 cash, which police allege was collected by Mr Abid, who told her his name was Alex on June 24, the court was told.

Police allege two days later she received another phone call, she told the caller she had $15,000 in cash and he told her to withdraw another $40,000.

The woman told her neighbour about the phone calls and was advised to contact police.

The police prosecutor told the court Cannington Detectives gave the woman a blank envelope filled with imitation cash.

When the accused went to the woman’s home to collect the money he was captured on CCTV driving a white Toyota, and inspected the envelope.

Police allege he drove to a Burswood carpark where he waited for three hours to get instructions from another person.

Mr Abid was arrested on Causeway Bridge near Perth on June 28 with the envelope of imitation cash.

He told police he was conned into collecting the money from the woman by another person who said the money was for an investment property.

Mr Abid further claimed the second person told him he could take about $4000, that was owed to him, from the amount collected.

The court was also told there were two other charges relating to other victims who lived in Gin Gin and Dianella.

It was alleged that Mr Abid attempted to defraud them of more than $17,000 earlier this year.

The man charged has claimed he was conned into collecting the money from the woman by another person. File image

Mr Abid’s lawyer told the court that his client did not have a criminal record and he would be applying for bail.

His lawyer said Mr Abid was born in the USA and came to Australia in 2018 to study finance at Deakin University and had since been trying to find a job.

His parents were from Pakistan, and he holds passports from both countries.

His lawyer said his client was not the principal offender that drove the crime, but reported back to that person after finding imitation cash in the envelope.

He said Mr Abid was told the money was for an investment property which he thought was legitimate

“He was duped into it,” Mr Abid’s lawyer said.

The magistrate approved bail on the conditions that Mr Abid, who was visibly upset during the proceeding, surrendered his passports and reported to police three times a week.

He is not allowed to leave Western Australia and is due to reappear in court at a later date.

Originally published as Victorian man charged with trying to fleece 93yo woman in Western Australia out of $58,000