Jailed for 45 Months for Credit Card Fraud

A few months ago Roy Francis was arrested on credit card fraud charges.  Roy Francis copied 259 bankcards and credit cards while he worked at a petrol station.  Sentencing was handed down this week regarding the fraud.  He will be in jail for three years and nine months regarding the charges.

Roy Francis was a trusted employee of a Shell garage in Barrack Road Christchurch.  He was able to steal 250,000 pounds from the card details he stole.  The disheartening aspect of this case is that the cards were used around the world.  Roy was a part of an international crime ring.  The sentence was conspiracy to defraud.  The judge recommended that Roy Francis be deported to Sri Lanka after serving his sentence as that is his native country.

The fraud investigation started in April of 2002 when the Dorset Police received complaints regarding the fraudulent charges.  The similarity in the consumer credit card statements was something the police just couldn’t ignore.  It was obvious that each fraudulent charge on the statements began happening after that particular Shell station had been visited.  The other charges just weren’t similar.

The Shell station was using Barclay Merchant Services for the credit card machine.  The police immediately notified the company of the suspected fraud.  The company then gave a detailed list of the legitimate usage on the cards, which helped determine what charges were fraudulent and when they began.

The management at the Shell station confirmed they employed Roy Francis and it was plain to see the fraud started soon after he began working there.  Emil Addai, part of the international ring, was stopped at the airport baggage check in Luton.  Addai was prepared to fly to Spain.  Addai had 20 credit card details in his pockets tucked away in tissues.

Addai stated at the time he had picked up the information by accident outside the terminal after dropping some of his personal items.  However, when the police checked on the payment for his flight to Spain it was found that one of the fraudulent credit card numbers he carried had been used.  The police also found that Addai had two other flights from Spain to Luton booked by using fraudulent cards.  He was interviewed on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud in the same case as the Shell fraud.

He denied being involved and Roy Francis denied that Addai was involved in the Shell station scam.  Addai said it was coincidence.  The court had sufficient evidence and charged Addai to 27 months in jail.

During the long investigation it was found that Francis was actually in the country illegally under his brother’s name and had lived in London for five years this way.  Luckily the charges of fraud are sticking and they are still in jail serving the long sentences.  The rest of the gang has not yet been caught and it is unlikely that they will be at least for this scheme.  As the gang continues to operate the police hope to catch them at some point.