Abdul Shahid has been jailed for three years, after carrying out a £192,000 fraud.
The 34-year-old set up a series of direct debits and used a national social housing firm's details to pay for them.
Unemployed Shahid was a tenant of Guinness Northern Counties Housing Association, which provides more than 60,000 homes across the country.
He managed to get hold of the bank details of his landlords enabling him to start a string of direct debits.
They paid for subscriptions to paid TV services, including adult channels.
He also used the bank details to pay off debts, his phone bill, as well as buying a range of goods from a catalogue.
In addition the fraudster managed to get his hands on the bank details of Telefonica, the Spanish telecommunications company which owns O2, and started paying his rent to Guinness Northern Counties through their account.
Shahid also posed as a door-to-door salesman for Sky television and BT, gathering cash payments from unsuspecting customers.
Many of the people he duped spoke little English and were left to find that within weeks their services had been switched off and Shahid was uncontactable, police said.
At Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court today Shahid admitted seven counts of fraud by false representation and one theft and he was sentenced to a total of three years in prison.
Pc Sarah Langley said: 'Shahid has effectively used these bank accounts as his own over a period of several months.
'He has been able to pay for goods and services worth tens of thousands of pounds and the cost to the businesses involved is considerable.
'His history of offending proves he is dishonest to the bone and he clearly has no qualms about ripping off unsuspecting people and organisations.
'This was a complex fraud and demonstrates that he is clearly an extremely intelligent person and it is just a shame he has channelled these talents into criminality.'
Is the 3year punishment justifiable? Comment
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