Heathrow Express conspirators jailed

Nine years in jail for credit card scam

A 26-year old former IT engineer has been sentenced to nine years in jail after he helped mastermind a £2m credit card fraud operation.

The case highlights a major issue for IT managers: even if transaction systems are secure, appropriate processes are needed to ensure that customer details are kept safe from unscrupulous employees.

Sunil Mahtani pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to defraud central clearing banks and other financial institutions between 29 April 1998 and 12 September 2001.

Mahtani stole thousands of credit card details from Heathrow Express customers while working for Checkline, a company that handles transaction processing and electronic card payments on behalf of the rail operator.

He passed the card numbers to a gang of forgers who electronically coded the details onto cloned credit cards. The cards were used to buy cigarettes and other goods in mainland Europe, which were smuggled into the UK to be sold.

Prosecutor Roger Smart said that it was the largest credit card fraud investigated to date by any police force in the UK.

He added that if the gang hadn't been caught, bank losses could have been as high as £20m.

Shajahan Miah and Shaidul Rahim, also 26, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and were sentenced to four years in jail.

A total of 11 men were arrested following an undercover investigation by Scotland Yard's cheque and credit unit.

A report from the Honeynet Research Alliance in June warned that an online community of skilled programmers is providing advice and software tools to make it easier for people to commit credit card fraud.