Home insulation fraudster Adam Roberts targeted pensioners to fund his extravagant lifestyle, which included a £90,000 Aston Martin and a Rolex watch.
Adam Roberts ran a fraudulent business selling home insulation to pensioners at hugely inflated prices and has now been jailed for three years.
He charged pensioners in Surrey , Hampshire, Dorset and Devon ludicrous prices for home insulation while falsely claiming it would save them money on their council tax and energy bills.
In many cases, victims had recently had their homes insulated under a government scheme, meaning the work was also unnecessary.
Judge Rufus Talyor said: “It seems clear to me that there was an effort to target the elderly and vulnerable,” mentioning the victims were all aged 65 or older and some had serious health problems including blindness and memory difficulties.
Adam Roberts’ business Eco Energy Advice Ltd (EEA), traded for just one year between 2015 and 2016, making £1.5 million, although not all of its income was the result of misleading sales techniques.
During that time, Roberts described himself as the CEO or “the King”, despite being subject to a bankruptcy order prohibiting him from operating a business. He circumvented this order by having his sister, Laura Oxley, act as EEA’s only named director.
Judge Taylor said EEA had operated “almost like a boiler room”, with numerous telesales agents cold calling pensioners and saying “almost anything to get someone through the door”.
Field sales agents would then visit customers to sign them up to the scheme, telling them their insulation was dangerous or out of date, even when perfectly serviceable, and promising fictitious discounts or council tax rebates to pressure them into signing up.
A reputable company will never ask you to agree straight away to work. If you have been subjected to heavy handed sales resulting in undue pressure or unfair pricing, then do report them to Trading Standards.
If you have any experiences with this kind of scammer, do let me know, by email.
