London:
An Indian-origin woman found guilty of duping elderly people into parting with thousands of pounds in cash has been jailed for two and a half years for fraud by a UK court.
59-year-old Rajbir Sangha had pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud involving 4,041 pounds and one offence of converting 10,000 pounds of criminal property between May and October 2011.
Leicester Crown court heard how three of the frauds involved her working as a self-employed saleswoman of disability products and her grossly overcharging victims aged between 79 and 85 for full body massage mats.
Sangha charged the victims 380 pounds each instead of 59.99 pounds, which Judge Philip Head said was "a grotesque, dishonest mark-up", the 'Leicester Mercury' reported.
She also befriended a disabled couple, aged 80 and 81, and falsely claimed she was a carer for a company, 'Premier Gold Care'.
As a result of that misrepresentation, they took her on as their carer and she charged them 1,944 pounds for two months' work.
Prosecutor James Thomas said: "She was not employed by that company. She had applied for a job with it and was going through a vetting procedure".
He said it was unlikely she would have secured a job with it because she had a previous conviction for mis-selling and over-charging two other pensioners for body massage mats. She had received a four-week jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, in August 2012.
Sangha, also acting as an agent for a company, wrongly assessed an elderly couple as not being vulnerable before pocketing 1,137 pounds commission on the sale of a bed for 6,500 pounds.
She also laundered about 10,000 pounds - where a number of cash deposits from unknown sources had gone through her bank account, the newspaper said.
Judge Head said during sentencing: "This was calculated dishonesty. You're an entrenched and dishonest manipulator. It was deliberate targeting of a large number of vulnerable victims".
"In August 2012, you were before magistrates for two identical matters committed in May 2011 and continued your criminal offending even after that".