- Francesco De Luca, 39, conned six victims out of £5,423.36 in less than a month
- He admitted five counts of fraud and has been jailed for 26 weeks
- Were YOU fleeced by De Luca? Email lettice.bromovsky@mailonline.co.uk
A conman posed as a wealthy fashion designer to fleece charitable university students out of thousands of pounds.
Italian Francesco De Luca, 39, asked victims for directions before inviting them into his car and tricking them with sob stories.
He conned six victims out of £5,423.36 in less than a month, by claiming he needed money as he had just been robbed or lost his wallet.
De Luca admitted five counts of fraud and one count of attempted fraud and has been jailed for 26 weeks.
Dressed in a smart designer suit he produced car-hire paperwork to back up his stories and claimed he was setting up his own clothes range at Harrods, Wood Green Crown Court heard.
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George Crivelli, prosecuting, said: ‘On each occasion the defendant used the same modus operandi, the same con.
‘He firstly informs the complainants that he’s an Italian fashion designer – he normally engages them in conversation by asking them for directions and when they’re in his car he normally starts to show them clothes he claims he’s designed.
He continued that he will then claim to have been robbed or lost his wallet and needs money.
De Luca told Zeyi Ji that he was a famous fashion designer and he was opening his clothes range at Harrods and that he was in need of £700 to repay the rental on his car.
Another complainant, Mr Wong had the same thing happen to him on February 7, except this time he paid De Luca £1,000 via bank transfer
De Luca conned another student out of £950 on 14 February and made £1,100 a week later.
Mr Crivelli said the last offence took place on 2 March when he swindled another Chinese student, referred to as Mr Chen, after asking him for directions to the Italian embassy.
‘He tells him he’s a designer for Ferrari, attempts to defraud some money from Mr Chen but Mr Chen doesn’t part with the money on this occasion.’
De Luca was arrested on March 3 at Gatwick airport and claimed he was just here on ‘holiday visiting friends’.
However, he accepted he wasn’t employed in the fashion industry, he didn’t work for Ferrari and the suits found in his car had been bought in the UK for himself.
Anisha Kiri, defending De Luca, said he didn’t try and conceal who he was, andhe was in a ‘financially desperate situation’ because of his ‘gambling addiction’.
In a statement read out to court by Miss Kiri, De Luca’s mother said: ‘My son is a Catholic, honest, hardworking man – I’ve never known him to behave in the case that’s alleged.’
The judge, Mr Recorder John Warrington said while sentencing: ‘Your victims for the most part agreed to help you and you either drove them to a cash point so they could withdraw cash to give you, or have the funds transferred to a bank account under your control.
‘You carried clothing as props to persuade your victims of the lie you were who you falsely pretended to be.
‘I do not consider a suspended sentence appropriate punishment.
‘The offences are so serious that only custodial sentences can be justified..’
De Luca glanced sadly towards his father-in-law in the public gallery, who had travelled to London for the hearing, as he was jailed for 26 weeks.
He was not ordered to pay any compensation to his victims.