A scoundrel conman coised up to several disabled and elderly victims to steal their identification and fleece more than $43,000 from Centrelink, a court has heard. Serial fraudster Vasilios Politopoulos, 59, pleaded guilty in the County Court to seven counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception from the commonwealth. Politopoulos, of Bayswater, rorted $43,970 through seven victims – including a family member – between 2016 and 2019. The court heard Vasilios targeted his “vulnerable” victims at churces, supermarkets and pokies venues, offering to carry their shopping and sit with them at church – to gain their trust – before stealing their cash, bank cards and identity documents, which he used to siphon Centrelink disability and elderly pensions into bank accounts he controlled. He also asked for advance payments. The court was told he had a 26-page criminal record of dishonestly offences stretching back to 1986. Politopoulos will be sentenced on March 25.
