Street beggar scams Cork retirees out of 330,000 euros in lifetime savings

A Romanian citizen begging on the street approached two elderly people, told them stories of sobs made up over the years, and gradually got them to hand over his life savings, swindling a total of 330,000 euros.

A 69-year-old man from West Cork was scammed out of a total of 207,000 euros, his life savings.

A 74-year-old woman had € 123,000 stolen.

Not only did he hand over everything he had, but he even borrowed 15,000 euros to pay him more, and he’s still paying off that loan.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin imprisoned Bradut Iosca of Relic Road, Kilbeggan, Westmeath, for six years in the Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

He said the defendant bled his victims and there were no signs of remorse.

“This was a ruthless exploitation of two innocents,” the judge said.

Sergeant Ailish Murphy reviewed the various stories told by the defendant in the course of the investigation and established that none of them were true.

• He claimed that his mother died in Serbia and that he and his family needed funds to travel to the funeral. His mother was alive and well and lived in Ireland.
• He said that he was dying of cancer and needed life-saving treatment that was only available to him in France. In fact, he has never had cancer.
• One victim was told that she was trying to sell a house in Serbia to pay back what she had borrowed from the victim, but first needed € 108,000 to pay off the remainder of the mortgage before she could sell it. He delivered a letter from a Serbian lawyer confirming this. Gardaí contacted the lawyer, who told him that he had never confirmed such a thing and that the document allegedly from his office was a forgery.
• He gave the injured parties false names and claimed that he later wanted them to know his real name. Gardaí said the only reason he did this was to get large checks that would be deposited into his bank account.
• He claimed that he needed money for a citizenship application. He never made such a request.
• The victims were told that they were behind in their rent and that the landlord was threatening eviction. In fact, he never lost his rent and was never threatened with eviction.
• He said that he had run out of money to support his family. However, between the rent subsidy, disability allowance, child allowance and other payments, the social welfare for him and his family amounted to € 650 every week during this period. He also had a medical card.
• He told the victims that he was Serbian. He is Romanian.

It later turned out that the true story told by the 39-year-old, al gardaí but never to the two victims, was that every time he obtained money from his victims, he wasted it on online gambling as soon as he received it. that.

Tom Creed, lead defense attorney, said the defendant was never aggressive towards the victims, but persistent and very charitable towards him.

The West Cork man once dined with the defendant’s family around Christmas time.

Sergeant Ailish Murphy said: “Throughout this investigation, he did not show any remorse for his action or for the financial hardship the injured parties are now in.

“During the interview, he made up a story that he was in a homosexual relationship with one of the victims and that they were going to flee to Serbia together, which was unjustified and unfounded.

He targeted both victims while begging on the street. He honed his craft over several years, taking advantage of the compassion, kindness, and vulnerability of the victims and did not sympathize with their pain.

Sergeant Murphy outlined the details of the extensive investigation carried out into how the defendant told both victims the stories of his dire need for money that he promised to return but never did, other than a small amount at first to generate trust.

Judge Ó Donnabháin said: “Two people set out to help the accused and, through various schemes and torture, bled them to death. He said he had a gambling addiction; We would all have a gambling addiction if we could pay for it this way.

“The victims are humiliated, degraded and impoverished and nothing can be done about it because there is not a penny left after an elaborate hoax built on one sad story after another. There was a web of deception continuously. ”

In closing, the judge said that Bradut Iosca had caused a carnage in the lives of the victims and that reading the victims’ impact statements, which were not read publicly, “would literally break your heart.”