Dagenham pair jailed for role in £54,000 cloned credit card con
Olabode (left) and Olakunle Akinnugba. Picture: British Transport Police - Credit: British Transport Police
Two Dagenham students have been jailed for their role in credit card fraud using cloned cards bought on the dark web.
Edwin Sarpong, left, and Reuben Joseph Brown. Picture credit: BTP. - Credit: Archant
Olakunle Akinnugba, 25, and Olabode Akinnugba, 26, both of Clemence Road, teamed up with two other men to commit more than £54,000 worth of fraud.
Blackfriars Crown Court heard how Joseph-Brown, 25, from Upper Sydenham, and Edwin Sarpong, 25, from South Lambeth, used the cloned cards to buy items like gift cards, phone top up cards and pre-paid cards which could then be sold and converted into cash.
A British Transport Police investigation, Operation Moonshine, uncovered the fraud after Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) noticed a large number of transactions were being charged back to them by credit card companies.
It was found multiple tickets were purchased using cards with compromised details programmed into them where the person used a swipe card and signed a receipt rather than a chip and pin.
The credit card companies would then claim money back from the train operator because the transaction was fraudulent.
Thousands of pounds worth of cash locked in a Louis Vuitton bag, as well as numerous cards with magnetic stripes, were seized by BTP in raids of the suspects’ homes in April.
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The cards were found to have had their magnetic stripes reprogrammed with stolen details from companies based in Canada and the United States.
It is believed the details were bought on the dark web with Bitcoin.
The Akinnugbas and Joseph-Brown were sentenced to two years in jail after being convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
Sarpong was also convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment.
Investigating officer Det Con Keef Cook said: “The sentences handed down by the court show that these offences are taken seriously and affect not only the companies that issue the genuine credit card details but the holders of these genuine credit cards who then have to deal with the stress and worry of having fraudulent transactions occur on their accounts through no fault of their own.”
