© LancsLive Bangaly Fofana
A fraudster with an ‘out-of-control’ gambling addiction used bogus passports to get onto online gaming sites from which he was banned, a court heard. Bangaly Fofana, who lives in the Black Country, even used a fake passport which had a picture of man of a different ethnicity.
The 34-year-old got hold of sham documents so he could gamble online after being banned from a string of sites. Preston Crown Court heard police were called to a domestic incident at Fofana’s then home in Barrow-in-Furnes, Cumbria, on Valentines Day 2021.
His partner told officers Fofana was a fraudster and had a number of mobile phones. The convict ran from the property but was eventually arrested.
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When police searched the address, they discovered passports in the names of Philip Berrington and John Pollock, LancsLive reports. Both had the same photograph of a man who looked nothing like Fofana, prosecutor Francis McEntee said.
They also found two council tax bills in the same names but addresses on the paperwork were not in the same council area as the bills were supposedly paid. Fofana admitted he had a gambling addiction and said he owed money to a man from a betting shop.
His gaming habit had got so out of control he had been banned from some online sites, he said. The defendant still wanted to gamble online but needed two forms of ID so he could pass security online to set up new accounts.
A man he knew from the bookies let him use his photo so bogus passports could be created, the court heard. Julie Taylor, defending, said: “The passport could not be used for unlawful entry to the UK as he is already legally allowed to be here, and the man in the photograph is white.”
The fraudster claimed he has now stopped gambling and has a job offer which he hopes will keep him away from temptation. Sentencing, Judge Philip Parry said it was a ‘sophisticated offence’.
Fofana, of Marsh Lane, Wolverhampton, admitted two counts of possession of identification documents with attempted fraudulent intent and two counts of possession of articles for the use with fraud. He was handed a 20-month sentence, suspended for two years.
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