A gang of nine fraudsters from Leicester used stolen debit card details to defraud people out of £120,000. Some of the gang took selfies of the expensive items they bought using the stolen card numbers and the wads of cash they made from selling them.
The criminals used stolen card numbers to buy high-value electrical goods in just five days in November 2015.
They travelled the length and breadth of the UK making purchases at high street stores.
They used previously stolen account details of bank customers and made the purchases via Apple Pay.
The fraud was spotted by Lloyds Bank in November 2015 and then referred to the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), a police unit sponsored by the finance industry that targets the criminal gangs responsible for fraud.
All victims were refunded.
Hamsa Dinle, Anwar Mohammed Mire, Sakariye Issa and Soubane Ismail, all from Leicester, visited a store in Bristol, where they bought a range of items including computers and phones.
After they were arrested they were found with a large number of goods bought using stolen card details.
A further five, Mahad Abdisalam, Mohamed Hirsi, Abdirabi Buux, Libyan Yaryare, and Suresh Karavadra were identified by the DCPCU as suspected fraudsters.
Karavadra, a shopkeeper in Leicester who bought goods from the gang at a discounted price, was convicted of money laundering.
All nine men pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation by joint enterprise
His Honour Judge Finucane QC, the judge in the final case to be heard ,praised the investigating officer, saying he used “detective skills of the highest order to investigate this offence and it’s a testament to his work that all defendants pleaded guilty.”
They received custodial sentences ranging from three years in custody to suspended sentences and community work.