Three men have been jailed for a combined total of more than 12 years after they scammed people out of cash and jewellery worth a minimum of £416,000.

Between February and September 2021, the group, which operated from the Reading area, targeted elderly people across a number of counties.

The group attempted to scam at least 42 people – with an average age of 78 – with the oldest being 90 and the youngest aged 57. They managed to get money and expensive jewellery from 27 victims living in Hampshire, London, Surrey, Kent and Sussex.

The total amount received was £116,000 in cash, while two victims gave them jewellery estimated to be worth a minimum of £300,000.

Winchester Crown Court heard the group, led by ring leader Faris Kayani, adopted a courier fraud tactic to target the individuals.

They used four telephone handsets operating from Reading town centre and called the victims while purporting to be police officers. The fraudsters claimed the people had been the victim of a fraud or that the police were investigating staff at their local bank for committing fraud.

The victims were told to call 999 from their phone to verify the identity of the caller.

However, the line was intentionally kept open by the scammer and the call was not disconnected. The victims then believed they had made a new call and that they were speaking to a legitimate officer, however they were still speaking with the scammer.

The victims were asked to assist a police investigation and to withdraw money so it could be checked for counterfeit notes and be sent for fingerprint analysis. Some victims were persuaded that the contents of safety deposit boxes, which contained expensive jewellery, were not safe where they were.

This was all part of the scam and couriers were sent to the victim’s home to collect the money and items.

Officers from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary’s Economic Crime Investigation Team launched an investigation and arrested members of the Organised Crime Gang.

Three men and three women were charged yesterday (Wednesday, January 29), three men were jailed for a combined total of 12 years and 20 months at Salisbury Crown Court.

One of the victims, an 85-year-old woman from Church Crookham, lost £4,200 after she was contacted by a man who pretended to be a police officer. One of her banks has refunded £3,200.

She said: “After I realised that what had happened to me was a scam, I felt completely paralysed. It is a despicable thing to do, to pretend to be someone from the police and then scam someone. I am and have always been a peaceful person, but thinking of the people who have done this to me and many other people makes me so angry.

“I spent the initial weeks after the incident unable to sleep for thinking about what had happened. I now have little faith left in my fellow human beings – I come from an era where this sort of thing just didn’t happen.

“I am a pensioner, I do not have money spare to be able to lose it to scams. The £4,200 I had taken from me was money I had set aside for the future and predominantly to be able to pay for my own funeral. I worried that the expense of my funeral might fall to someone else to deal with. I should not have to deal with that stress at my age.”

A 75-year-old woman from the Alton area lost £8,850 but thankfully has had it all refunded by her bank. She said: “I tried to tell myself that I had been fortunate not to be a victim of a violent crime, but in some ways I imagine this was just as bad.

“I had horrible thoughts about how my money might be being used to finance crime and this caused me to lose a lot of sleep. I understand that everyone needs to earn a living and provide for their families, but there must be better ways than exploiting and victimising people who've never done you any harm.”