A MAN who ran a £17,000 internet scam, selling iPhones and gold jewellery that did not exist, has been jailed.

Lee McPhee, 30, advertised the goods for sale on the website Gumtree but, after taking payment, fobbed off buyers claiming the items had been lost in the post.

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One of his ten victims, a 26-year-old man with Aspergers syndrome, handed over £2,325 for a gold bracelet he never received. Another man, 42, paid £400 for a non-existent iPhone and one victim was conned out of £2,800, believing he was buying a gold chain.

Preston Crown Court heard McPhee, of Bruno Walk, Blackburn, has a number of previous convictions for fraud and dishonesty. He set up shop in 2014 as he was unable to work and wanted to help his partner, Gemma Poole, 23, pay off rent arrears.

Poole, of Shetland Close, was handed a suspended sentence for her part in the scam, after the court heard she allowed McPhee to use her bank account to launder the money.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Ian Leeming said: “You McPhee would advertise the goods, on Gumtree usually, and the innocent purchasers would get in touch in response to the advert and a price would be agreed.

“You would then persuade the person to pay into an account - the details of which you would give them. In a significant number of cases that account belonged to Miss Poole.

“You received a total sum of £17,300, although some may have been returned. The total loss was £12, 748.”

“As to you Poole, you allowed McPhee to use your account for legitimate purposes but you discovered the real purpose - the receipt and laundering of money - and continued to participate.”

“Your role was clearly a lesser role. You did not deal with any customers.”

Ten victims fell foul of the scam although The court heard two customers were reimbursed a total of £4,851 for their losses. Judge Leeming jailed McPhee for 21 months and handed Poole a 24-week sentence suspended for 18 months with supervision and 100 hours unpaid work.