Fraudster who conned elderly victims out of £100k by convincing them to leave bank cards outside for couriers to collect is jailed for over 6 years
Abdirahman Yalahow, 29, from Walsall, West Midlands, posed as bank officials or police officers when phoning eight victims to tell them that their bank accounts had been compromised.
By ANDY DOLAN, GENERAL REPORTER
Published: 11:37 GMT, 30 December 2025 | Updated: 11:39 GMT, 30 December 2025
A fraudster who prayed on the elderly to steal more than £100,000 from a string of vulnerable victims has been jailed for six years and six months.
Abdirahman Yalahow, also known as Abdi Rahman, posed as bank officials or police officers when phoning the eight victims to tell them that their bank accounts had been compromised after being targeted by fraudsters.
The 29-year-old convinced the pensioners to leave their bank cards for a courier to collect or even hand them over in person, having already obtained their security details on the phone.
The bank cards were then used to buy expensive goods as well as withdraw money until the accounts had been drained. Over £100,000 was taken between August 2024 and that December.
Officers conducted warrants at two addresses where electronics, including phones, were recovered. These were forensically examined by digital experts and evidence was secured linking Yalahow to the crimes.
Yalahow, of Walsall, West Midlands, admitted conspiracy to defraud at Birmingham Crown Court in August, and was sentenced on December 22.
Detective Sergeant Angela Warren-Smith, from West Midland Police’s economic crime unit, said: ‘Yalahow spent hours on the phone to victims to convince them with elaborate stories, reassure them and build their trust, resulting in them handing over their personal information and bank cards.
‘He had no regard for their wellbeing and saw them merely as pots of cash to be emptied.
Detective Sergeant Angela Warren-Smith said Yalahow 'spent hours on the phone to victims to convince them with elaborate stories, reassure them and build their trust'
‘We know that courier fraud is becoming an increasingly common offence, with offenders impersonating figures of authority, including police officers and bank staff, to demand money or details about bank accounts.
‘I'd ask that anyone who has an elderly or vulnerable relative or friend to have a chat with them about crimes like these and make sure they're alert when they answer their phone to someone they don't know.’
Yalahow was jailed two months after Sharmarke Ahmed, of Wandsworth, South West London, was jailed for his role in a courier fraud in which an elderly woman was scammed out of thousands of pounds of cash and jewellery.
Chester Crown Court heard the victim, in her 90s, had received a call to her landline from a man who posed as a detective from Chester, warning of criminals operating in her area.
The man asked if she had any cash or jewellery at home and was told the pensioner had money and valuables totalling £27,000.