Man who obtained goods by fraud gets community service

Apr 17 2008

A FORMER employee of a telecom giant who stole customer bank details after devising a scheme to buy goods and services with them was this week given community service.

Sarjad Afzal (28), of Inveraray Gardens, Newarthill, was also ordered to pay the Capital One Bank £403.72 in compensation.

Earlier this year, the 28-year-old had pleaded guilty to obtaining the information between December 2004 and May 2005, while working at NTL House in Bellshill.

The fraud came to light after Afzal had left the company’s employment.

He had passed personal and bank details on to Mohammed Rafiq (22), of Grantham Avenue, Holytown, who had also admitted a charge of forming a scheme to obtain goods and services by fraud.

However, Rafiq’s not guilty plea to a charge of obtaining goods and services by fraud — by pretending to the third parties that he was one of the NTL customers whose details had been passed to him — had been accepted by the Crown.

Rafiq and Afzal, along with co-accused Sohail Sultan (22), of Dee Path, Holytown, denied obtaining board and lodging from an East Kilbride hotel.

Their pleas had also been accepted by the fiscal depute.

Rafiq’s and Sultan’s not guilty pleas to obtaining board and lodging from Uddingston’s Redstones Hotel, the Strathaven Hotel, and a hotel in Edinburgh, without intending to pay were also accepted by the Crown.

Rafiq had also faced two charges of using a credit card in the name of a Martin Fryatt to obtain goods and services at the Amran Tandoori which is located in Old Edinburgh Road, Uddingston.

However, his not guilty pleas to these charges were accepted by the Crown.

At Hamilton Sheriff Court on Tuesday, Sheriff Rae Small sentenced Afzal to 190 hours’ community service on the charge of obtaining goods and services by fraud.

Sentence on Rafiq was deferred until August 14 to await the outcome of other matters, and for a supplementary social inquiry report.

Bail was also continued.

When Rafiq and Afzal pleaded guilty in January, Virgin Media, formerly NTL, said the protection of customers’ details was “paramount.”

A spokeswoman for the firm added: “Since 2005, we have introduced stringent security measures in all our centres to prevent fraudulent activity.”