Surbiton fraudsters spared prison after £1.6m chip and pin scam

Cousins Anand Shah, 33, of Hook Rise South, and Jaimin Shah, 26, of St Mark's Heights, in Lamberts Road, were slapped with suspended sentences and community service orders by an Old Bailey judge.

They stole a chip and Pin machine from an undisclosed pub in London, and hacked it to allow them to “skim” card details from restaurant and club customers across the capital.

The fraud saw the stolen machine planted around London, and handed to customers, before it printed out a ‘payment declined’ reciept. Customers were then given a real chip and Pin machine to pay with. The pair cloned the cards’ magnetic strips, to be used abroad in countries which do not have chip and Pin.

At the Old Bailey on Friday, Anand Shah was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 300 hours of community service. Jaimin Shah was sentenced to a year in prison, suspended for two years, and must carry out 100 hours of community service. The pair were caught with counterfeit credit cards, skimming equipment, cash, drugs and a laptop that held more than 4,000 credit card numbers. Police estimated the loss to the hospitality industry from their fraud at £1.64m. The cousins were ordered to pay back just £3,240 in compensation.

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