£1m Next directory scam gang jailed
Guilty of selling and using customer details
A GROUP of fraudsters who obtained account details for Next Directory customers and sold them on through Facebook have been jailed.
The two women and three men pleaded guilty to conspiring together and with others to defraud the retail giant which is headquartered in Enderby.
Matthew Lowe, prosecuting at Leicester Crown Court, said the group would obtain customers log-in details through online fraud and sell them over the dark web.
Those buying the account details were then encouraged to post pictures of goods they obtained fraudulently using click-and collect services at Next stores.
In total the available credit on 280 hacked accounts was almost £1million and the value of attempted fraud was £239,681.
The amount of goods actually obtained through the fraud was £64,000.
Ringleader Edward Mullen, 30, of Inveresk Street, Glasgow, recruited mother-of-five Toni Louise Willis, 32, of Blake Court, Chelmsford, Essex, to sell “large amounts” of information using PayPal or bank transfer.
Willis, in turn, recruited mother-of-two Leisha Johnstone, 25, of Princess Street, Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, to also sell the information.
Account details were sold for between £25 and £80, depending on the amount of credit on the account.
They were accompanied by instructions on how to commit the fraud to obtain goods and avoid detection by concealing their internet IP address.
Mr Lowe said the defendants were using a Facebook group set up by co-accused, Matthew Corry, 28, of The Old School Field, Dramahoe, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, called Super Fun Happy Land.
The fifth defendant, Craig Ashley, 32, of Morvern Street, Cresswell, Derbyshire, also set up a Facebook group, called Exclusive Deals.
The fraud took place between October 2015 and April 2016.
Mr Lowe told the court: “The fraud was carried out by the co-defendants and other (unknown) conspirators.
“Those who successfully used the hijacked accounts were encouraged to post photographs of their spoils on the Facebook group to advertise and promote the fraud.
“In November last year, Next became aware of the Facebook group and carried out their own investigation, before handing details to the police.
“Willis was arrested in December and items were seized from her.”
The others were subsequently arrested and fraudulently obtained goods recovered.
Mullen was jailed for 18 months, Willis and Corry received 15 months each while Johnstone received 12 months and Ashley eight months.
A sixth defendant, Rachel Wall, 30, of Veronica Green, Great Yarmouth, received a six month sentence suspended for 18 months.
The court heard she obtained £11,00 of goods fraudulently but had not passed on or sold details of genuine customers’ accounts.
Sentencing, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: “What lies behind this is extremely simple to state; it’s greed.
“All of you saw an opportunity to make easy and, you thought, risk-free money – at the expense of Next Plc.
“It wasn’t sophisticated, but it was persistent.
“The losses were not insignificant, but the potential losses were very significant.
“I must take into account the impact upon the victim in this case - Next plc.
“Although the actual loss doesn’t strike me as being very considerable for that very large company, the reputational loss is incalculable.
“It doesn’t take much imagination to understand that members of the public hearing of offences like these will not go near a Next account with a barge pole – they will consider, whether accurate or not, that they may be at risk of having their account details stolen.
“It’s not a case in which the slightest responsibility applies to Next for your offending or for their account details being stolen.
“Their security arrangements and attempts to detect fraud couldn’t be criticised.
“This was wholesale supply of hacked accounts, providing a facility for others.
“This is a crime that is, these days, prevalent, and involved persistent offending by each of you.”
Lawyers for the crooks said all of their clients had co-operated with police in the investigation.
It was heard some became involved because cash was tight over Christmas.
A Next Plc spokesman said: “We were pleased the judge commended Next’s security systems and we’d like to reiterate that at no point was any customer data hacked or stolen from Next.”