Three men guilty of defrauding migrants in Glasgow
Three men from Eastern Europe have been jailed for defrauding fellow countrymen over an accommodation and work scheme.
The men took money up front from their victims after promising jobs and accommodation in Glasgow which failed to materialise or meet expectations.
Petr Kupka, 37, and Vladimir Fojtik, 23, both from the Czech Republic, were jailed for four years, and two years and three months respectively.
Slovakian Michal Rondos, 26, was jailed for three years and three months.
Glasgow Sheriff Court heard how Kupka and Rondos formed the initial scheme which brought two people, Maria Dudasova and Josef Vican, to Scotland.
Rondos created a bogus website for a company called Real Oportunity Ltd - an employment agency that arranged work for people coming to Scotland from the Slovak Republic and Czech Republic.
They communicated via email and on the phone with Ms Dudasova and Mr Vican, who paid for flights to Scotland.
They were collected from Edinburgh Airport and assured they had, or would have, jobs and accommodation waiting on them.
Both paid £450 in rent and a deposit and were taken to their new homes but were left without jobs.
The court heard that a second fraudulent scheme worked the same way but on a larger scale and also involved Fotjik.
Kupka and Rondos created a company called GB Job Ltd, with a registered address at Nithsdale Road, Glasgow.
Rondos created another website GBJob.co.uk, which they claimed was another employment agency website.
Fojtik joined in March 2010 when he arrived in Scotland and they posted adverts and communicated with at least 13 people who had responded to adverts.
Once the victims arrived they were duped into paying £400 each for rent and deposits under the misinformation they were going to be given jobs organised by the three men.
A further five known people were defrauded on £400 from a third scam involving the three men.
This fraudulent scheme was started in January 2010 by Kupka and Rodos when they created the company, AZ Team Work Ltd, with a registered address in Lilac Wynd, Cambuslang.
In March 2010 when Fojtik joined, they again defrauded at least five more people.
When they came to Scotland and were collected from the airport and taken to accommodation, they each paid £400 for rent and a deposit but were again given no jobs.
The court heard that at least £6,000 was made through the fraudulent schemes.
Following a five month trial, a jury convicted the three men of committing fraud.
Passing sentence, Sheriff Joseph Platt said the frauds were "well planned" and that because of the gravity of the offences that "only custodial sentences are appropriate".
Kupka was also found guilty of having another man called Pavel Michalec's driving licence in his possession in September 2009.
A fourth man Pavel Novotny, 40, was convicted of two assaults, one in June 2010 on Maria Dudasova by shaking her and pushing her on the floor, and in August 2010 on Daniel Kosar by headbutting him and kicking his head.
Following the period he previously spent on remand he was admonished.