Computer hacker, 21, jailed for masterminding £27 MILLION fraud

A 21-year-old computer hacker has been jailed for three years for masterminding a scam which enabled £27million of fraud to be committed.
Jay Moore set up fake shopping website Freshshop to ‘farm’ credit card data from unsuspecting users, which he then sold to international criminal gangs.
He also hacked into payment systems to obtain databases of card information which he sold in bulk through his website.
Detectives later found the card details of more than 340,000 individuals on his home computer and £81,000 of cash in a safe in his bedroom.
Moore spent his money on a top-of-the-range BMW with a personalised number plate valued at over £10,000, and gave £40,000 to his father to help buy a large farmhouse.
Banks reported fraudulent losses linked to cards in excess of £26.9million.
Moore, who has no formal qualifications, pleaded guilty to 12 charges of fraud, money laundering and computer misuse at Bristol Crown Court.
His accomplice Damian Horne, 22, who used his personal bank account to collect criminal funds received through the website, was jailed for 21 months.
The court heard how Moore, of Cromhall, Gloucestershire, met Horne, of Manchester, in an online chatroom for hackers. Together they began selling stolen iTunes vouchers on eBay.

 

But their criminal enterprises soon escalated into credit card data and they began laundering the proceeds through a network of bank accounts, online financial institutions and overseas money exchangers.

Fraud HQ: Jay Moore, 21, set up his fake shopping website from this home in Cromhall, Gloucestershire. When police raided the property they discovered £81,000 stashed in a bedroom safe

Freshshop appeared like any other retail site and Moore allowed other hackers to sell their stolen data through him for a commission. Moore paid two of his friends, Lewis Danter, 20, and John Allen, 22, to collect cash from outlets which had been wired over from international criminals as payment for the illicit card data.
Meanwhile, Horne would post bundles of cash to Moore. When Moore was arrested at his parents’ home he had almost £81,000 of cash in a bedroom safe and more than £170,000 in his bank account.
He lied to friends and family, telling them he operated a web design business.
Danter and Allen, both of Bristol, pleaded guilty to money laundering and were each sentenced to 120 hours of community service.
A spokesman for the Serious Organised Crime Agency said: ‘The sale of this compromised data earned Moore substantial profits.
‘In addition to the fraud attributed to specific cards, the information brokered by Moore would also have been sufficient to enable fake bank accounts to be set up.
‘These could in turn be used to commit further fraud, such as cheque or identity fraud


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