A man who committed a £40,000 fraud against a victim who later had to sell his family home has been jailed.

Jason Shifrin, 48, (29.03.1970) of Stanborough Avenue, Borehamwood, was sentenced on Thursday, 18 October to three years and 10 months’ imprisonment after being found guilty of fraud by false representation following a trial at Harrow Crown Court.

His wife Nicole Shifrin, 46 (28.01.72), of the same address, was found guilty of converting criminal property and handed a Community Order. She was ordered to carry out a maximum of 300 hours unpaid work, to be completed within two years.

The court heard that in December 2016, the couple – using a false surname of Shaw – arranged a viewing of a high value property.

Following the meeting, Mr Shifrin spoke to the estate agent about an investment opportunity, involving gold, which would see the agent invest £40,000.

He was told he would receive this back just a few days later, along with an extra £15,000.

The victim deposited the money into the bank account of Nicole Shifrin and almost immediately over £20,000 was spent on a luxury holiday to the US and Mexico.

While at the airport, the couple also used the money to buy a Chanel purse at a cost of £690.

When the victim called Mr Shifrin to ask about his investment, he was provided with a number of excuses for not receiving his money back.

This included being sent a fake text message which purported to be from the bank, stating that the money had already been transferred back to the victim.

He reported the incident to Action Fraud and the case was later passed to the Met’s Falcon Team, who launched an investigation.

In the course of their enquiries, officers found that Jason had given the victim two stones, which appeared to be diamonds, as collateral for his money.

When police submitted these to an expert, they were found to be practically worthless cubic zirconia.

The couple were arrested at their home address on 11 July 2017 and initially denied all offences.

DC Paul Allgood, of the Met’s Fraud and Linked Crime Online (Falcon) unit, said: “The couple managed to persuade an innocent victim to hand over a significant amount of his own money on the premise he was making a solid investment. The victim and his family suffered emotionally and financially over the Christmas period and had to sell their home.

“Our investigation exposed their criminal activities and we hope this sentence acts as a deterrent to anyone thinking of exploiting others for their own financial gain.”