A fraudster pretending to be an architect helped con homeowners out of £800,000 for renovation work but didn’t know how to use a tape measure. Customers across London handed over deposits to Contemporary Home Improvements (CHI) for renovation work in 2017 but no work was ever done.
By the autumn of 2017, when none of the promised work had begun, panicked households tried to get in touch with CHI and discovered it was being liquidated. a total of 61 households were duped by the company, in which several others were involved, the court heard.
CHI used sales techniques including offering early bookings for the proposed work if early and large deposits were made and suggesting a customer’s house could be used as a marketing model after work was done. It was said masters student David Gogo, 29, reassured customers and gave an impression of “quality and seriousness” to the venture by pretending to be a fully qualified architect.
But the conman, who carried a business card falsely stating he was a chartered member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, could not even use a tape measure, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard. He went on to fail the architecture masters degree at the University of East London, it was said.
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