A cruel fraudster who preyed on vulnerable migrants made false promises of repaying his victims after he pleaded guilty to his crimes.
Alan Cloake – who swindled 10 people out of €71,000 posing as an immigration officer claiming he would get them citizenship – vowed to hand over €34,000 in compensation to those he duped.
The con artist, 47, had told a court earlier this year that he was due to get this inheritance money from the sale of his grandmother’s house.
Read more: Conman who led champagne lifestyle off the most vulnerable jailed
Having declared this, those scammed gave victim impact statements some of which included references saying it was their belief they would get some of their money back.
But the Irish Mirror can reveal that following inquiries by investigators from the Garda National Immigration Bureau, they established the crook was only going to get a measly €1,700 if his relative’s house was sold.
In the end, Cloake handed back just €6,000, €28,000 less than he had promised.
A source said: “This man went to court, pleaded guilty to his crimes against these people but then went on again to blatantly lie.
“It was complete and utter fraud once more.”
We can also reveal how Cloake not only led the court on a “merry dance”, as the judge branded it, but also forced
gardai to sift through his web of lies in the investigation.
Cloake previously claimed to cops that he was acting on behalf of another man, a naturalised citizen originally from Angola – when he conned his victims.
But after detectives traced the man, Cloake admitted he was acting alone.
He duped his 10 victims – all Malawian and Filipino nationals – out of €71,000 between 2015 and 2017, falsely claiming he could get them legitimate Irish citizenship.
Yesterday, we exposed Cloake as he led a champagne lifestyle off the back of cash handed to him from the most vulnerable in society.
He spent over €8,000 in Ireland’s plushest hotels including the Lyrath Hotel in Kilkenny, The Intercontinental Hotel in Dublin as well as the Druids Glen and Powerscourt hotels in Wicklow.
The Irish Mirror has also learned that Cloake lied to workers at these hotels to build a false persona of himself.
He boasted that he was a “big tipper” and claimed that he was a VIP customer with a leading bookmaker in the country who were bringing him to big sporting events on a complimentary basis.
Cloake of Greenfort Crescent, Clondalkin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to falsely representing himself as an immigration officer and dishonestly inducing 10 people to pay him money, on dates between October 21, 2015 and February 10, 2017.
He also pleaded guilty to possession of the proceeds of criminal conduct between October 2, 2015 and September 20, 2017.
He received a four-year prison term with the final year suspended last Thursday.
The successful probe was carried out by GNIB and led by Detective Garda Lorraine Travers.
Read more: Gardai issue urgent warning about 'FluBot' smartphone virus
Read more: Man charged in connection with almost €5 million cocaine seizure
Sign up to the Dublin Live Newsletter to get all the latest Dublin news straight to your inbox.
