A fraudster who pocketed almost £9,000 from an elaborate scam targeting train companies narrowly avoided jail. Sadeddine Ramdane, 34, abused the system which offers refunds to passengers affected by genuine delays when using trains across the country, as part of a 'very sophisticated' racket.
Some of the refund claims included 'unusually long' journeys in order to 'maximise' the value of the fraud, prosecutor Ben Lawrence said. The money paid out by the train companies was then diverted into various PayPal accounts controlled by Ramdane, using different identities. Messages recovered also revealed that Ramdane had employed another fraudster to make electronic alterations to tickets to assist the scam. Defending, Simeon Evans said Ramdane had not come up with the fraud, and it had been 'handed to him on a plate'.