Chip and pin fraud gang gets 15 years
A chip and pin fraud gang are jailed for 15 years after an investigation by the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit.


Four men have been jailed for a combined total of 15 years for their part in a card fraud operation.
Theogenes de Montford was given the longest sentence - four-and-a-half years - while Rajakumar Thevathasan, Usman Mahmood and Rashid Abdi Hassan will be jailed up for three-and-a-half years each.
The men were found guilty of tampering with chip and pin devices at a number of petrol stations across the south of England in 2009.
They copied electronic data from customers' bank cards and then used the information to create fake magnetic stripe cards that could be used overseas, in countries that have yet to introduce chip and pin.
Following an investigation by the bank-sponsored Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU), the four men were arrested.
After a two-week trial in which de Montford pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and conspiring to possess articles for use in fraud. Thevathasan, Mahmood and Hassan were also found guilty of conspiracy to defraud.
Since it was established in April 2002, the DCPCU has prevented an estimated 340 million in card and cheque fraud losses, the equivalent of more than 3.5 million a month.
Get the ITPro daily newsletter
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
"We have worked closely with both the banking and retail sector on this investigation, and together we are sending a very clear message that those responsible for these types of fraud will be caught and prosecuted," said Detective Chief Inspector John Osibote, who leads the DCPCU, in a statement.
Tom Brewster is currently an associate editor at Forbes and an award-winning journalist who covers cyber security, surveillance, and privacy. Starting his career at ITPro as a staff writer and working up to a senior staff writer role, Tom has been covering the tech industry for more than ten years and is considered one of the leading journalists in his specialism.
He is a proud alum of the University of Sheffield where he secured an undergraduate degree in English Literature before undertaking a certification from General Assembly in web development.
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolen
News Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
By Ross Kelly
-
Lateral moves in tech: Why leaders should support employee mobility
In-depth Encouraging staff to switch roles can have long-term benefits for skills in the tech sector
By Keri Allan
-
India’s new data protection bill continues to “facilitate state surveillance”
News Although data localisation requirements have now been removed, it’s down to the Indian government to select which countries data is allowed to be sent to
By Zach Marzouk
-
UK police fails ethical tests with "unlawful" facial recognition deployments
News A University of Cambridge team audited UK police use of the tech and found frequent ethical and legal shortcomings
By Rory Bathgate
-
FBI warns scammers are using cryptocurrency ATMs to siphon cash
News Criminals will stay on phone with victims as they make payments, says advisory
By Danny Bradbury
-
Hackers fake DocuSign and offer fraudulent signing methods
News Criminals impersonate the e-signing company to steal credentials
By Rene Millman
-
Account takeovers rise nearly threefold during pandemic
News Financial services hit hardest by account hijackers, says Sift report
By Danny Bradbury
-
Cyber criminals leak one million credit cards on the dark web
News Among the stolen hoard are customer details from US and Canadian banks
By Rene Millman
-
SentiLink raises $70 million for its identity verification platform
News SentiLink’s ID Theft Score helps businesses combat synthetic fraud
By Praharsha Anand
-
LinkedIn denies data breach that reportedly exposed 700 million user records
News Report claims 'breach' led to profiles belonging to 92% of LinkedIn users being put up for sale on a popular hacker forum
By Bobby Hellard