Five fraudsters operating an Internet-based credit card scam have been jailed for a total of just under eight and a half years for their parts in a conspiracy to defraud online financial institutions.
The four men and one woman from Buckinghan and Northamptonshire used the Internet to shield their identities while making multiple bogus credit card applications with Cahoot, Egg, Marbles, MNBA, Smile, and SonyCard. They were arrested by officers from the National Crime Squad in August 2000 after a six month operation, codenamed Skoda.
Detective Inspector Michael Ryan of the National Crime Squad says the perpetrators used a combination of old methods with the new advantages the Internet has to offer. He says: "The key to this complex investigation was close co-operation between the National Crime Squad and the relevant banking organisations...Valuable lessons have been learnt which have led to sophisticated measures being put into place to prevent any reoccurrence".
On passing sentence, Judge Tyrer in Aylesbury Crown Court said this was a "thoroughly dishonest, premeditated, sophisticated and sustained conspiracy".