A con-man, who posed as a millionaire in front of people has been jailed for four-and-a-half years for duping one of his date for almost GBP 1,50,000 (roughly Rs 1.53 crores). Richard Dexter, the “charming” fundraiser had met his date on dating app Tinder and posed as a millionaire businessman who owned private jets, was involved in Holly Studios and bought a hot air balloon. The conman belongs from Hampshire and has been found to play this act on multiple victims apart from his Tinder date.
According to a report in The Guardian, Dexter conned the victim named Amrita Sebastian, who lives in Dubai. Dexter convinced Sebastian into sending him GBP 1,41,500 (roughly Rs 1.44 crores) in a series of payments. He told Sebastian that he was on the verge of a big fall due to investments in biopharmaceutical technology, and needs the capital to start production of a piece of scientific equipment called a bioreactor paddle. Sebastian, who travels to the UK about twice a year according to The Guardian, has made a series of payments as large as GBP 68,000 (roughly Rs 69,52,000). Dexter had promised Sebastian that he would pay her an interest of GBP 100,000 on top of his investments.
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Sebastian, after few payments began to realise that Dexter was not what me portrayed himself to be and felt trapped into keep on giving him money in the hope that it would protect his money, the report said. She later went to the police.
According to the court proceedings as described in the report, Dexter would also ask his grandmother for GBP 10 every now and then claiming his card is not working. Further, another businessman who had been in contact with Dexter said that he came across as “fanciful” and that Dexter was a liar but a “likeable character.”
The conman did try to convince the court that the money went into “general every day living” but he was convicted of fraud, forging patent documents, and perverting the course of justice.
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