A CRIMINAL from Essex who picked up cash and gold from three households in Pembrokeshire that had been conned out of tens of thousands of pounds has been sentenced at Basildon Crown Court.

Arnaldo Katalay, aged 24, of Gascoigne Way, Billericay, travelled to West Wales to carrying out a number of pick-ups from people he had helped con into thinking were helping the police and banks uncover corruption.

But what his con had done is trick them into buying gold so the scammers could line their own pockets.

His first victim, a pensioner, received a number of calls between 2 and 18 November 2021 from a man claiming to be DCI Paul Stewart from Paddington Police Station.

The fake officer said that a female had been arrested trying to use the victim’s bank card to purchase a Hotpoint washing machine in Argos.

As the calls continued the victim was persuaded to assist an investigation into ‘bad apples’ working at NatWest Bank in Canary Wharf.

This led to them placing two orders for gold bullion from an online retailer, where they spent £27,363.78. The gold was delivered to then on three separate days 9th, 10th and 16th November 2021.

The victim told “DCI Stewart” when each delivery was being made and he arranged for ‘a courier’ to collect them from their home address.

On 9th November at approximately 5.15pm, whilst she was on the phone to “DCI Stewart”, a male called at her home address to collect the gold, which had been delivered from earlier that day.

She handed the package, containing gold worth £10,000, to him and the male left.

On 10th November, following the delivery of the second amount of gold, a courier arrived and collected it. The value of the gold collected that day was £7,913.72.

On 16th November, following the delivery of gold earlier that day, a ‘courier’ arrived at their home to collect this third package. The total value of the gold collected on 16th November was £9,450.06.

Thereafter contact with “DCI Stewart” ceased and on 22nd November the victim had a sudden realisation they had been the victim of a fraud and reported it to Dyfed-Powys Police.

They lost their life savings in the con, however, they have since been reimbursed by the bank.

The second victims, married pensioners, received a number of calls between 2 and 26 November 2021.

The unknown caller purported to be DC Robert Lawrence, from a serious fraud squad at Charing Cross Police Station.

He persuaded them to withdraw £7,500 from their bank account on 9 November and that it would be collected by a courier in order to progress their investigation.

Following the collection of the cash “DC Lawrence” continued to maintain regular telephone contact with his victims until they were eventually persuaded to purchase £18,769.42 worth of gold online from a company on 15th November.

There were however delays in the gold being delivered and while “DC Lawrence” continued to maintain telephone contact with the couple the fraud failed.

Officers carrying out house-to-house enquiries from the first offence identified the couple had also been victims.

The gold was delivered, but because police had intervened, it wasn’t handed to a courier and was instead returned for a refund.

The third victim, an elderly person living alone in Pembrokeshire, was targeted between 26 November and 1 December 2021, this time from someone claiming to be DC Thomas Daniel from Paddington Police Station.

He told her the NatWest Bank were engaged in fraud and then handed her to his Sergeant, called Goodwood, who continued to tell her she needed to take action to assist them in her enquiries.

Following numerous telephone calls the victim went to her bank on Friday 26th November, having been told to withdraw £3,000 by the scammer.

The bank declined the full amount but let her withdraw £1,250 in cash.

When they told the ‘officer’ on the phone they had only been allowed to withdraw that amount the male became angry with her.

On Monday 29th November, following further phone calls from the suspect who demanded that she withdrew more money, the victim went to Carmarthen where they took out Euros 1,770 at a travel agent.

At about 6pm on Monday 29th November Mrs Phillips was told to meet a male outside her house. They handed both the sterling taken out on the 26th, and the Euros to the male.

They later realised she had been the victim of a scam and reported it to police on 1st December 2021.

Significant efforts by various teams across Dyfed-Powys Police, from the neighbourhood policing teams, the Economic Crime Team and detectives in CID was able to evidence that Katalay had been the man who collected the gold and cash from the victims.

Officers used phone records, and the fact that Katalay paid for a taxi he used to go to one of the victim’s homes by bank transfer to track him down and ultimately convict him.

The evidence they secured was shared with colleagues from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit, which is based in the east of England, who convicted Katalay through the courts there.

DCI Cameron Ritchie said Katalay’s crimes had a profound effect on his victims.

“We’re pleased to have secured the evidence to convict Katalay and to have supported the victims who have come forward,” he said.

“We’re talking about people who have been tricked into handing over life savings, so their confidence has taken a huge hit.

“It is cruel and completely unfair but I hope they can get over this. They have had some or all of their money back but the damage done to their confidence in immeasurable.

“During this time period we received more than 80 calls reporting unsuccessful claims, so we know they were pushing hard in the Pembrokeshire area at that time.

“It is unfortunate that these people were conned but these scammers are very cunning, careful and clever criminals who have worked to exploit three people that we know about.

“This conviction is the result of the efforts of our investigators in CID working with the economic crime team and Ersou to get the evidence needed to prove Katalay had been involved in tricking people into handing over £88,000 in just a month in Pembrokeshire.

“Police would never ask any members of the public to purchase gold or other valuables nor ask for cash to be handed to a courier. If you have any concerns please contact police on 101, online or in an emergency 999.”

Katalay pleaded guilty to all charges in January 2023 and on Thursday, 2nd March, he was sentenced to seven months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.