Paul Tapp, 42, turned up at the addresses of two people between 27 June 2022 and 29 June 2022 and tried to trapped them in his scam.
He knocked on the door of a man in his 80s in Fareham and offered to do some guttering work.
Tapp requested a £5,000 deposit, which was paid, but he did not carry out any work that day.
He then returned the next day, making a request for a further £5,000 payment and submitting an invoice for £36,000 work to be done on garage gutters.
After returning on the third day, more money was paid, and the victim was told that if the bank called him about the payments he was making, he should tell them that the money was going to his ‘son in law’.
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A cleaner at the property became suspicious of Tapp and called the victim’s son, who in turn called police, and Tapp was arrested by officers at the scene.
But in a separate incident, the 42-year-old turned up at the home of a woman in her 60s in Horndean and told her she needed her guttering replaced.
Tapp quoted £5,500 for the work, £2,500 of which was paid by the victim on the day in cash, while the remaining amount was requested via bank transfer and cheque.
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A day later, the victim in this incident received a phone call claiming there was an issue and she needed to go to the bank and get more money.
This made her suspicious, and she contacted Action Fraud and her bank to cancel the transferred funds.
Tapp, 42, was charged with two counts of fraud by false representation and admitted both charges when he appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court in April.
Appearing at the same court today, he has been jailed for three years.
DC Josh Seaman, who investigated this case, said: “Criminals like Tapp are a blight on our community, but it is down to community spirit and community intelligence that we can drive these offenders out of our areas.”
