Suspended sentence for rail ticket fraudster

A fraudster who made more than £29k through the sale of fake train tickets has been sentenced following a lengthy British Transport Police investigation.

 

Muhammed Sufi, aged 34 of York Lane, Mitcham, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and was sentenced to nine months suspended for two years and 100 hours unpaid work at Inner London Criminal Court on Thursday, 30 September.

 

The court heard that Sufi had manufactured the fake complimentary LNER tickets, which allowed the holder first class travel, before selling them on e-bay.

 

LNER fraud department were tipped off when they were contacted to advise that four LNER scratch card tickets of dubious authenticity had been purchased from the website Sphock.

 

The ruse was uncovered when an unsuspecting elderly couple who had purchased the tickets from the e-bay seller were stopped at London King’s Cross station after the serial number on the ticket was flagged as fraudulent.

 

Sufi had opened the ebay account in the name of an LNER employee with addresses based in London and Yorkshire.

Data from a pay-pal account linked to Sufi show transactions totalling £29,000 linked to the sale of LNER first class tickets over a five month period.

Based on the maximum fare at the time this would have led to a potential loss to LNER of £263,840.

 

Detective sergeant Karen Grave said: “Sufi was exploiting a complimentary ticket scheme, hoodwinking honest members of the public into believing they had paid fairly and squarely for legitimate tickets.

“Ticket fraud is not a victimless crime – the loss is passed down to honest fare-paying members of the travelling public.

“We will not tolerate any kind of fraud on the transport network and we will make every effort to bring those that do commit the crime to justice.”

A fraudster who made more than £29k through the sale of fake train tickets has been sentenced following a lengthy British Transport Police investigation.

 

Muhammed Sufi, aged 34 of York Lane, Mitcham, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and was sentenced to nine months suspended for two years and 100 hours unpaid work at Inner London Criminal Court on Thursday, 30 September.

 

The court heard that Sufi had manufactured the fake complimentary LNER tickets, which allowed the holder first class travel, before selling them on e-bay.

 

LNER fraud department were tipped off when they were contacted to advise that four LNER scratch card tickets of dubious authenticity had been purchased from the website Sphock.

 

The ruse was uncovered when an unsuspecting elderly couple who had purchased the tickets from the e-bay seller were stopped at London King’s Cross station after the serial number on the ticket was flagged as fraudulent.

 

Sufi had opened the ebay account in the name of an LNER employee with addresses based in London and Yorkshire.

Data from a pay-pal account linked to Sufi show transactions totalling £29,000 linked to the sale of LNER first class tickets over a five month period.

Based on the maximum fare at the time this would have led to a potential loss to LNER of £263,840.

 

Detective sergeant Karen Grave said: “Sufi was exploiting a complimentary ticket scheme, hoodwinking honest members of the public into believing they had paid fairly and squarely for legitimate tickets.

“Ticket fraud is not a victimless crime – the loss is passed down to honest fare-paying members of the travelling public.

“We will not tolerate any kind of fraud on the transport network and we will make every effort to bring those that do commit the crime to justice.”