27 July 2023 , 07:32
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Even after years of exposing scams I’m still shocked by the cold indifference some fraudsters have towards the suffering they cause. Take 31-year-old Lewis Manley, a predatory sales rep for a web of fraudulent solar heating companies.
Among his many victims was a retired Suffolk farmer I’ll just call by his first name, Graham. Although registered with the Telephone Preference Service, Graham was repeatedly phoned about products for his solar heating system.
A call on March 4, 2016, resulted in him buying a storage battery for £5,900. It was installed just six days later, a typical tactic used by the scammers that was designed to give the victim little time to reconsider or cancel. A second call resulted in him being sold a PV+ power booster for £2,995.
He was then sold an “Eco Power Saver” for £3,900 and an “Air 2 Air” heating system for £3,500. All the products had huge mark-ups and some proved useless or even worse than his existing ones. The crooks were just getting started and now Manley came on the scene, turning up in his blue BMW.
He gained Graham’s trust by claiming to be a farmer’s son and first sold an iBoost water heater for £1,995, despite the fact Graham already had one. He next flogged an inverter for £4,000, claiming that Graham’s existing one was faulty, even though it was still under warranty and could have been replaced for free.
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Manley then sold him an extra solar panel for £4,200. Finally, the leech used scare stories about possible fires to sell a £3,500 “fire raptor”. In total Graham paid almost £30,000 and, looking back, says that he was overwhelmed by persuasive sales pitches and did not know where to turn for advice.
“I am disgusted with the amount of money they took from me,” Graham wrote in a victim statement. “They knew that I was retired and trusted them and they took advantage of that."
Other victims told how they felt "stupid and gullible" and "upset and embarrassed". Many live in fear of more scams, one saying: "When the telephone rings it causes anxiety, I don't know if the person on the other end will be family or a conman" and another stating: "I cannot concentrate on daily life, the worry is always there, I dread every phone call."
Director: Antony Dean (Tim Anderson)This week Manley, from Challock, Kent, was jailed for two years after being convicted at Southwark Crown Court of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering following an investigation by Essex Trading Standards and the National Trading Standards Regional Investigation Team.
An extra eight month consecutive sentence was added because he was in breach of a previous suspended sentence for conspiracy to commit theft. He was described as the most prolific sales rep at a web of four companies – GreenPowerSolutions, Green Planet Advisory, Offgridplus and Green Power Energy Solutions.
They had a turnover of more than £6.5million, with the average age of the victims being 71. Manley was paid almost £380,000 in commission for his dirty work. In sentencing, Judge Martin Griffith told him: "You were at the very heart of this conspiracy."
Another key figure was Antony Dean, who was a director of three of the companies and installed his wife as director of the fourth. The 42-year-old, from Chelmsford, Essex, pocketed £407,000 and was described by Judge Griffith as "the driving force in this offending".
He was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering, jailed for three years and banned from being a director for ten years. The court had heard in mitigation of the impact that a jail sentence would have on his family, but the judge told him this was something he should have considered "when this fraud was generating large amounts of money from many victims".
Guilty: Jenkins and Emily Dean (Tim Anderson)His wife Emily Dean, 32, and David Jenkins, 52, also from Chelmsford, admitted money laundering and were each given 100 hours of unpaid work.
“They were all handsomely rewarded for their combined efforts in persuading consumers, many elderly and vulnerable, to part with money for purported energy saving products,” said Alison Lambert, prosecuting. “Numerous claims and representations were made about the products which were not true."
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Typical lies were that the companies were part of a Government green energy scheme or had taken over from the customer’s solar panel installer and were conducting free checks on their system, which was just a ploy used so that sales reps could get a foot through the door.
They also claimed that new laws were due to make their products mandatory. After sentencing, Judge Griffith commended Essex Trading Standards for “a lot of hard work over a great deal of years”. Three others will be sentenced at a later date. Manley's partner Jordan Lewis was found not guilty of fraud and money laundering charges.
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