By Clare Turner
Two fraudsters, George Hill and Harry Caen-Reilly, have been sentenced to over two and a half years in prison for their roles in an organized crime group that deceived elderly victims by posing as police officers.
The pair targeted pensioners in Bedford and Houghton Regis, using a scam known as courier fraud. Hill, 31, from Clerkenwell Road, London, and Caen-Reilly, 31, from Napier Road, Ashford in Surrey, each received sentences of two years and eight months at Luton Crown Court.
Their fraudulent activities involved contacting victims, claiming to investigate counterfeit currency. In one instance, they approached an 88-year-old man in Bedford, but he suspected their motives and refused to hand over any money. However, they successfully persuaded an 82-year-old woman in Houghton Regis to give them £23,000 in cash, claiming it was needed for their investigation.
In total, across five separate cases in November 2023, Hill and Caen-Reilly defrauded victims of nearly £50,000 and attempted to extract an additional £100,000.
Detective Constable Lisa Hunt from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit emphasized the serious impact of courier fraud, particularly on vulnerable individuals. She stated, “Hill and Caen-Reilly went out of their way to target vulnerable people across Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, defrauding several victims out of significant sums of money.”