Three men have
admitted stealing 2 million pounds in Britains largest credit
card fraud to date. Sunil Mahtani had downloaded nearly 9000
card details from the firm he worked for, Checkline PLC, and
with his two accomplices created over 800 fake cards with
these card details. Checkline PLC process cards on behalf
of the Heathrow Express rail link which was the main source
of the credit card numbers that Sunil Mahtani and his accomplices
used..
The fraud started soon after Sunil was given his job at Checkline
by his uncle, the managing director, in April 1998. They visited
Europe purchasing cigarettes using the cloned cards, smuggled
them into the UK and resold them.
The three men were caught following an undercover police
operation. It is thought that the fraud could have reached
20 around million pounds if they had not been caught, and
had used all of the card numbers obtained. Sunil Mahtani was
sentenced to 9 years imprisonment (7 years for the credit
card fraud and 2 years in connection with pornographic child
photographs). His accomplices were sentenced to 4 years each.
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