A FRAUDSTER has been jailed for 12 months for using a fake ID as he tried to buy iPhone contracts.

Oluwaseyi Ayan had gone into a Vodaphone store in Southend twice in December and used fake documents to say he was German.

The 26-year-old is actually a Nigerian immigrant who lived in Hartford End, Basildon.

On the first occasion, on December 9, Ayan had claimed he wanted two iPhone contracts taken out for himself and his mother.

However, after staff members began processing his documentation and details once the phones were gone, they realised that the ID was fake, and the details incorrect.

The value of the phones and contracts was estimated to be about £2,000.

Ayan returned again to the store on December 29 to ask for another phone contract.

However, the staff were now aware of who he was and the police were called.

Despite initially resisting arrest, Ayan was detained.

He was later charged with two counts of providing false documents, fraud and one count of resisting police officers.

He appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday via video link to be sentenced.

Mitigating, Mike Warren said that Ayan had arrived in the country in 2012 on a student visa but later dropped off his course so he could find a job.

He said: “He is well aware that the immigration authorities will deport him when his sentence finishes.

“He lost his universal credit leading up to the prison period, and is the father of a six-year-old child.”

Judge Samantha Leigh told the court: “There was an explanation where someone approached him in a park giving £50 to go there, but they are explanations he is now distancing from

“I have difficulty approaching that version of how he became involved.”

Judge Leigh also told the court Ayan had 15 different aliases with two different dates of birth.

He was given 12 months in prison for having false documents, along with four months concurrent for fraud.

He is likely to face deportation after sentence.