‘This is some of the worst offending I've seen in my career’

A conman who scammed more than £30,000 out of six elderly women while being under a suspended sentence for a similar offence has been jailed.

Mohammed Gulzar, 26, was sentenced to four years and four months imprisonment after running a smishing scam which left his victims shaken and upset. One of his victims was an elderly woman from Fareham while the others were from Derbyshire, Warwickshire and West Mercia with a senior police officer calling it the “worst offending I've seen in my career”.

Gulzar, of Nora Road, Birmingham, sent ‘smishing’ messages to his victims, a type of cyberattack using deceptive texts which tricked them into surrendering sensitive data including their passwords and bank details.

Mohammed Gulzar, 26, of Nora Road, Birmingham has been jailed for four years and four months for scamming six elderly women across the UK out of more than £30,000, including a women from Fareham. | Hampshire police

He convinced them he was their bank and sent an Uber to their houses to pick up their physical cards. One victim had nearly the entirety of their £5,000 overdraft spent and £11,500 loan taken out.

He was arrested in July 2024 and was charged with conspiracy to defraud his six victims in November 2025. Having initially pleaded not guilty he changed his plea earlier this year and was initially given another suspended sentence. However, following an appeal he was sentenced to four years and four months imprisonment at a hearing on Friday, September 18 at the Court of Appeal.

DI Richard Cornell, who oversees the Proactive Economic Crime Team (based at the East Midlands Special Operations Unit) who investigated the incident, said: "When we arrested Gulzar, he was soundly asleep in bed. He got up and the phone he used to contact his victims, along with his personal phone, were conveniently tucked underneath him and were quickly seized by the team.

Mohammed Gulzar of Nora Road, Birmingham, has been jailed for four years and four months after scamming elderly women out of thousands of pounds including a woman in Hampshire. | Derbyshire Police

"This is some of the worst offending I've seen in my career. Gulzar managed to get access to thousands of pounds, and continued to offend despite having previously been convicted for similar offences, and was under a suspended sentence when he scammed these women.

“This was the driving factor which made us work with the CPS to appeal the second suspended sentence he received earlier this year. It just wasn’t enough of a deterrent for him.

"I'm pleased the Judge has now given him a custodial sentence, meaning he will be unable to take advantage of vulnerable people. We will now be seeking to impose a confiscation order of £33,000 to help recover his ill-gotten-gains.”

At the hearing victim impact statements were heard where the women explained how they were left feeling shaken and upset, unsafe in their own homes, taken advantage of, and left treating everything with suspicion.