A 62-year-old Blenheim man has admitted conning a group of Kiribati workers out of their money and failing to pay three motel bills.
Allan Leslie Forsyth admitted seven charges of causing loss by deception and three charges of obtaining by deception when he appeared in the Blenheim District Court yesterday.
He will be sentenced on April 18.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Steve Frost said Forsyth befriended a group of Kiribati workers at a Blenheim backpackers on January 1 and offered to get them laptops.
He lied to them about his daughter owning a computer business and said he could get the laptops for $400 each.
The workers had limited income so Forsyth started a payment plan where they paid him as much as they could afford until they reached the $400, Mr Frost said.
Charge sheets showed he had taken a total of $912 from the workers, with one paying the full $400.
Forsyth spent the money on cigarettes and food and pretended to call his daughter when the workers asked about the laptops, Mr Frost said.
Another time, Forsyth offered to organise a flight for one of the workers to go to a birthday party in the North Island. He then pretended to call the airline and told the worker the flight had been cancelled.
Forsyth told police it was easy to con the workers because they were so trusting, Mr Frost said.
Between October 1 and 19 last year, Forsyth stayed at three Blenheim motels and made excuses about not being able to pay, including his bank account being frozen.
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