{"id":103408,"date":"2019-04-21T13:13:13","date_gmt":"2019-04-21T20:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=103408"},"modified":"2019-04-21T13:13:13","modified_gmt":"2019-04-21T20:13:13","slug":"betting-fraud-conman-allegedly-scammed-nearly-100-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/betting-fraud-conman-allegedly-scammed-nearly-100-victims\/","title":{"rendered":"Betting Fraud Conman and Serial Impersonator Allegedly Scammed Nearly 100 Victims"},"content":{"rendered":"

A businessman who was duped into plowing \u00a3400,000 ($520,000) into a bogus betting scheme<\/a> orchestrated by conman Chris Beek has spoken of the devastating impact of the scam on his life and says he believes there are many more victims out there.<\/p>\n

\"Chris
Chris Beek invented at least ten fictitious personalities to assist him in carrying out his fraudulent activities, including a private detective some victims hired to track himself down. (Image: Birmingham Mail)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Richard Roberts told the Birmingham Live<\/em> that Beek had left him close to broke and reliant on handouts from friends and family. He also blames the fraudster for the break-up of his 15-year marriage.<\/p>\n

Beek, who adopted fake personalities to cover his tracks, was imprisoned for almost six years last week by a judge in Warwick, UK, for entangling dozens of people in his fake betting syndicate with promises of generous returns on their investments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a three-year sophisticated fraud,\u201d said the judge.\u00a0\u201cThe web of lies has been hard\u00a0to unravel. There was a bewildering cast of fictitious persons, betting systems, internet accounts, and then, using your own name and six other names, you wove a web of deception.\u201d<\/p>\n

Callous Conman<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Beek bamboozled his victims with an endless procession of characters, each played by himself \u2013 and even adopted the persona of a private detective and convinced victims to hire him at great expense him to track himself down.<\/p>\n

\n

Unsurprisingly, Beek\u2019s private detective character failed to locate Beek the conman or to return victims\u2019 money, as promised. But just in case we\u2019re tempted to admire his chutzpah, Roberts highlights the trail of destruction the callous fraudster left in his wake.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

While Beek was convicted of bilking several victims out of \u00a3204,000 ($256,000),Roberts lost more than that alone, and believes the total figure is much, much more. A Facebook page set up by Roberts as a platform for victims to come forward has uncovered just under 100 people who claim they are owed a combined \u00a31.6 million ($2 million).<\/p>\n

Split Personality?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Roberts was first caught in Beek\u2019s web when the conman advised him to put a few pounds on a horse, which won. Impressed, Roberts began buying tips from Beek, but now believes he was being groomed for a big con.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter six months, he said, \u2018If you want a monthly \u00a34,000 ($5,200) income, give me \u00a325,000 ($32,000),\u2019 Roberts said. \u201cIt worked and I thought I\u2019d died and gone to heaven. Now, I realise he was taking money from other people to pay me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beek is a former jockey, whose dreams of racing success were shattered by injury. He later became a trainer and a racehorse owner but lost his yard and horses in 2013. He hoodwinked victims with talk of bookie-busting computer systems, and also offered opportunities to invest in an illusory wine business.<\/p>\n

He invented at least ten alter egos to aid the deception, including one, racing tipster \u201cAlan Nugent\u201d who \u2013 in a bizarre taped phone call played in court \u2013 spent 45 minutes berating himself, Beek, and his shoddy handicapping abilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is so plausible on the phone with stories of his connections,\u201d he explains. \u201cFor some stupid reason, I befriended him. In all honesty, I\u2019m not used to people telling me blatant, bare-faced lies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt pains me to say it, but I don\u2019t think he started off intending to hurt people. He believed his own bull****.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A businessman who was duped into plowing \u00a3400,000 ($520,000) into a bogus betting scheme orchestrated by conman Chris Beek has spoken of the devastating impact of the scam on his life and says he believes there are many more victims out there. Richard Roberts told the Birmingham Live that Beek had left him close to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":103409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBetting Fraud Conman Chris Beek Allegedly Scammed Nearly 100 Victims<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Conman Chris Beek who was sentenced to almost six years in prison last week likey had many more victims who are owned over \u00a31 million.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/betting-fraud-conman-allegedly-scammed-nearly-100-victims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Betting Fraud Conman Chris Beek Allegedly Scammed Nearly 100 Victims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Conman Chris Beek who was sentenced to almost six years in prison last week likey had many more victims who are owned over \u00a31 million.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/betting-fraud-conman-allegedly-scammed-nearly-100-victims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-21T20:13:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/BEEK.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1182\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"799\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/betting-fraud-conman-allegedly-scammed-nearly-100-victims\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/betting-fraud-conman-allegedly-scammed-nearly-100-victims\/\",\"name\":\"Betting Fraud Conman Chris Beek Allegedly Scammed Nearly 100 Victims\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/betting-fraud-conman-allegedly-scammed-nearly-100-victims\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/betting-fraud-conman-allegedly-scammed-nearly-100-victims\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/BEEK.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-21T20:13:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-21T20:13:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Conman Chris Beek who was sentenced to almost six years in prison last week likey had many more victims who are owned over \u00a31 million.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/betting-fraud-conman-allegedly-scammed-nearly-100-victims\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/betting-fraud-conman-allegedly-scammed-nearly-100-victims\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/betting-fraud-conman-allegedly-scammed-nearly-100-victims\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/BEEK.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/BEEK.png\",\"width\":1182,\"height\":799,\"caption\":\"Chris Beek invented at least ten fictitious personalities to assist him in carrying out his fraudulent activities, including a private detective some victims hired to track himself down. 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