A GRANDAD fraudster who used fake ID to swindle stores out of £40,000 worth of iPhones and Apple watches has been jailed for 18 months.

London-based Abideni Tajudeen Adegbite, aged 54, targeted O2 stores in Chepstow and across South Wales by taking out phone contracts in different names using fake Nigerian passports.Cardiff Crown Court heard that the alarm was raised after the serial fraudster took out contracts for two iPhone 13s and an Apple Watch at the O2 store in Chepstow’s High Street on December 14.He used a Nigerian passport with his own picture in the name of Christopher Davidson from Caldicot, and produced a bank card in the same name.But when later contacted by the Chepstow store, another member of staff at the firm’s Spytty Retail Park store in Newport realised a person matching the same description had made identical purchases there the day before.Prosecutor Sophie Keegan said of the sales in Chepstow: "One staff member (in Chepstow) was quite pleased about what had happened and messaged a colleague at another shop, but she was aware of another similar purchase which had taken place."At the Newport store, father-of-five Adegbite had used a Nigerian passport in the name of Bruce Thomas, with an address in Chepstow, she added.And when he brazenly strolled into the 02 shop in McArthurGlen, Bridgend, a day after visiting the Chepstow store, the shop manager called police and he was arrested.The court heard that he began his frauds by saying he was interested in buying an iPad for his daughter who was attending university. The total amount stolen was in the region of £40,200.Adegbite, of Daniels Road, Southwark, admitted charges of fraud by false representation, possession of false instruments for use of fraud and possession of false ID documents.The court was told he had seven previous convictions for similar offences.Tom Roberts, defending, said the grandfather-of-three would have received less than £5,000 from selling the phones on.He had been in the UK since he was 21, but started engaging in fraud in 2014 when a change in immigration status meant he couldn’t anymore work in the UK, added the barristerJudge Timothy Petts told Adegbite: "You have developed a lifestyle of committing fraudulent offences. You went to three different shops to buy high value items and used false passports and bank cards."You were prepared to travel considerable distances to try committing fraud. Only immediate custody will do."