Bogus landlord left victims 'homeless and depressed'

Gullriaz Tajpuri gave his victims a virtual tour of a property before they paid him what they believed were deposits

A "callous" man duped families out of thousands of pounds after fraudulently advertising homes to rent online.

Gullriaz Tajpuri, 49, used online buy-and-sell platform Facebook Marketplace to advertise two properties in Sneinton and Basford, in Nottingham, which he did not have any connection to.

In 2021, he took bogus deposits from five families totalling more than £3,000 in what one of his victims called a "cruel" scam, which left one couple homeless.

Tajpuri, of Cornhill Road in Carlton, was given a suspended sentence at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday.

Nottinghamshire Police said Tajpuri had given his victims a virtual tour before they agreed to rent a three-bedroom property from him in the lead-up to Christmas.

Victim's calls blocked

He took £695 deposits from four people and £350 from a fifth victim, before one of them, a mum in her 30s, reported the scam to the police.

The mum had planned to move into the property with her partner and young daughter before Christmas but eventually had to tell her daughter "there was no new home", police said.

A man in his 40s, the second person to fall victim to Tajpuri's scam, told the court he and his wife were left homeless and had to borrow money to buy a trailer tent to live in.

After the third person was duped by the fraudster and asked him about a moving-in date, he blocked her phone number.

She told the court she had been dealing with a divorce at the time and described the whole ordeal as "awful".

The other victims, both married couples, also lost hundreds of pounds.

After pleading guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation, Tajpuri was sentenced to 13 months in jail, suspended for 18 months.

He was also ordered to undertake 180 hours of unpaid work.

Det Con Harminder Rai-Mottram, who led the investigation, said: "Tajpuri is a callous fraudster who inflicted financial hardship and enormous misery to a number of families in the lead up to Christmas.

"His crimes took place during the Covid pandemic, causing the victims to endure additional distress during an already turbulent time."