A FRAUDSTER who was just seven when he took part in his first heist and once stole £500,000 from a bank says he's turned his life around.
Tony Sales, 49, spent six years on the run before leaving a life of crime behind when he saw his young son in tears during a prison visit.
He was a young child when his uncle lowered him through the window of a pub to unlock a door from the inside – before robbing it.
Tony was paid for his role in the heist with a bottle of fizzy drink and a packet of cigarettes.
The robbery gave him a taste of being a criminal and he wrongly believed stealing would lead to a better life after a fraught childhood.
But he became "addicted" to committing offences, culminating in stealing £500,000 from a bank – withdrawing the money from an account belonging to someone else.
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Tony told MailOnline: "I didn't like how I looked. I didn't like, you know, the way I dressed.
"And so that drove the criminal behaviour from credit cards to stealing car radios, to stealing out of shops."
Tony was eventually jailed for possession of an imitation firearm, which acted as the catalyst behind a decision to turn away from violent crime and to fraud instead.
He began stealing identities, believing it was a "victimless crime".
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Recalling the moment he walked out of a bank with £500,000, Tony said he was waiting at the counter after the pre-order had been accepted.
He anxiously kept checking the door for the victim and those on the phone behind the counter to ensure they weren't phoning police.
When asked by bank tellers if he wanted to count the money, he immediately replied "no, I want to go", before walking out.
But the fraudster was arrested after detectives had spoken to all his victims.
They included a dead man, whose daughter was left in tears because of Tony's actions.
He was interviewed by police, but then went on the run for six years – hiding his crimes from his family in the process.
But the criminal was finally found and arrested when he was stopped by officers and have them a name with a warrant attached to it.
His wife went three months without speaking to him as his criminal life was uncovered.
He was sat in a prison visiting room when his partner walked in with his crying children.
Tony said: "And it's at that moment that I realised I'm now pushing my trauma onto my own children.
"And that's going to be a circle again, that's just going to continue this crazy circle of crime. It's only me that can change this."
Following his release from prison, he took up a role in a supermarket before using his criminal past to benefit others.
Tony continues to receive death threats due to his criminal past. but is now social engineering expert at We Fight Fraud.
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The group is pulled together from experts to help individuals and businesses fight and protect against financial crime.
Tony released an autobiography, The Big Con, in December 2020 detailing his life from a conman to turning his life around.
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