Police smash gang in £3m credit card scam

Members of an eight-man gang were involved in a credit card scam that is thought to have netted up to £3 million.

The gang members — seven of them from Rochdale, one from Oldham - were charged with stealing goods worth £602,852 using stolen or fraudulent cards between June 2011 and November 2012.

But Manchester Crown Court was told yesterday this was likely to be the tip of the iceberg, the true figure being up to £3 million.

Mr Mark Kellet, prosecuting, said the men ordered everything from alcohol and food to building materials and cars from hundreds of companies. All were small or medium sized businesses, some of which folded due to their losses in the fraud. The credit cards used were compromised, payment was declined and the victim companies lost out heavily.

A complex police investigation revealed the thefts involved more than 3,000 calls to 257 landline numbers outside Greater Manchester. Dozens of mobile phones used in the scam were seized by police in raids on homes in Rochdale.

False individual or company names were given when placing orders and deliveries made to empty properties or side streets and car parks to conceal the scammers’ identities.

Sentencing them, Judge Mushtaq Khokhar said: “This was fraud on a massive scale.”

Ringleader Ammar Khalid (27), of Elder Street, was jailed for four years for conspiracy to defraud.

Sohail Khan (26), from Grange Avenue, Werneth, was given a six-month jail sentence suspended for 12 months for handling stolen goods.

Khan who was convicted after a trial, received metal tubing and fridges valued at around £8,000.

The other men involved were jailed for over three years, or sentenced to stay in a young offender’s institution. One 12 month prison term was suspended for a year.

Det-Sgt Phil Larratt, of GMP’s Fraud Investigation Team, said: “It’s clear from the sheer scale of the evidence these men thought they had an unearthed a goldmine and had no intention of slowing down or stopping.”