Judge jails fraudster who posed as the heir to a fortune to con vulnerable friends out of nearly £400,000

Published 30 October 2026, 12:29

• Prosecutor David Hall told Hull Crown Court that James Chambers, 48, was a 'greedy and manipulative confidence trickster'.
• One friend of 20 years handed Chambers £125,000, believing he needed the cash to unlock his inheritance.
• Bankrupt since 2016, Chambers posed as lawyers, accountants and government officials to explain why his victims were never repaid.

A man who spent years befriending vulnerable people and conning them out of nearly £400,000 by pretending to be the heir to a fortune has been jailed for four and a half years.

James Chambers, 48, of St John's View, Boston Spa, near Wetherby, pleaded guilty at Hull Crown Court to seven counts of fraud by false representation.

Prosecutor David Hall described him as "a greedy and manipulative confidence trickster, who deliberately and repeatedly deceived and misled people who had befriended him into lending him money by pretending that he was the heir to a fortune."

Hall told the court that "the damage to the victims is not just the financial loss but also ongoing feelings of betrayal, disloyalty, lies and deliberate, premeditated abuse of trust."

Recorder Gordon Stables was direct in his sentencing remarks: "This was not a momentary or short-lived offence. It was a course of conduct pursued repeatedly, deliberately and persistently over a lengthy period. Time and again, you persuaded people to loan you money. Time and again, you assured them that substantial funds would soon become available. Those assurances were all lies."

The financial loss was considerable, Stables said, but "the personal betrayal was greater still."

Chambers had been declared bankrupt in March 2016, with debts eventually totalling £180,584 owed to ten creditors, £167,773 of it to private individuals.

His discharge was suspended indefinitely by the Insolvency Service for failing to cooperate and refusing to hand over certain assets — meaning any money he received from victims was legally required to go to his bankruptcy estate.

Seven victims lost a combined £365,139.

The largest single loss came from a friend of 20 years who handed over £125,000 on June 1, 2019, believing Chambers needed it to pay lawyers to unlock an inheritance.

Two men lost £94,850 after Chambers told them he was the sole beneficiary of a £1.4 million life assurance policy.

A woman lost £68,000 after he posed as a successful business owner with money tied up in other ventures.

Another woman lost £34,000 over a period beginning in January 2009 after regularly lending him money, never knowing he was bankrupt.

A man lost £32,988 after meeting Chambers on Facebook and being told he could not access bank cards linked to a trust fund.

Two further women lost £6,700 and £3,600 respectively after being promised repayments that never came.

Chambers created false documents and later impersonated lawyers, accountants, government officials and personal friends to explain why repayments were delayed.

Detective Constable Joanne Richardson, who led the investigation, said: "Chambers' offending is unusual as he asked for money as himself, and only impersonated individuals later down the line as a means to cover his tracks."

His conduct "caused not only financial damage to his victims but also reputational damage to those he has impersonated," she added.

Defence barrister Glenn Parsons acknowledged Chambers was "quite properly described as a confidence trickster" and that he was "presentable, plausible, educated and affable."

Of the victims, Parsons said: "They were just kind-hearted people who accepted at face value what he said. Some of them extended a very Christian nature to him and they will have felt betrayal and felt angry, only to find out that it was all a pack of lies."

DC Richardson warned the public that befriending fraud shares many similarities with romance fraud.