It's hard to hate this guy, he's like a naughty scamp who we all secretly admire for his chutzpah.
[hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"]Credit card conman used names of tycoons
By Stewart Payne
(Filed: 19/04/2006)
A conman assumed the identities of millionaire businessmen whose names he took from magazine rich lists then applied for credit cards in their names.
Youssef Babbou, 49, milked their bank accounts and travelled the world, staying in luxury hotels, hiring expensive cars, buying Rolex watches, diamonds from De Beers and spending £10,000 in Harrods.
Among the identities he assumed were those of Dennis Bakke, an author and golfing partner of former President Bill Clinton; the boss of a chain of Las Vegas casinos; and an inventor working on the space shuttle programme.
He was arrested in Paris, where he was found to have 17 driving licences in the names of rich Americans and 25 false identities. He served four months for fraud in France and spent six months awaiting extradition to England.
Yesterday he pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to obtaining and attempting to obtain property by deception and obtaining services by deception.
The court heard that Babbou, a Tunisian, had carried out frauds in America and had served a sentence in Italy for credit card fraud.
Brendan Morris, prosecuting, said his method was always the same. He would ring an American Express call centre in the US to report the loss of a card.
"As a result of being able to provide a certain amount of information, the loser can then specify a location where a replacement card can be provided," he said. "In these cases it was in London."
Jailing Babbou for four years, Judge Stephen Waller said the case did not reflect "the whole criminality" but was sufficient for him to pass sentence. He ordered that Babbou be deported on his release.
Det Insp Roy West said after the case that he believed Babbou had spent more than £500,000 in only five months.
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