Fraudster took photo of son in bank notes pile

A FRAUDSTER has begun a five-year prison sentence, after police uncovered a photograph he took of his baby son surrounded by bank notes stolen in a card-cloning scam.

Adu Bunu, 34, was convicted by a jury at Hull Crown Court of cloning more than 2,000 cashpoint cards and milking the victims’ accounts.

He netted £43,000 (€54,230) by cloning cashpoint cards, but had the potential to steal more than £1 million, police said.

Detective Sergeant Neil Clarkson from the Humberside Police Economic Crime Section said: “This was obviously a well organised card cloning operation where more than 2,000 card details were recovered.

“Although not all card details had been used, if they had all been used, then according to the banking guidelines, he had the potential to recover more than £1m.

“In excess of £40,000 was obtained by the defendant affecting hundreds of people whose details were used in this operation.”

Bunu targeted cashpoint machines at two East Yorkshire supermarkets in Beverley and Willerby, Hull Crown Court was told.

The cloned cards were then used to withdraw money from other ATMs across the country.

Bunu, a Romanian, was arrested at his home in St Oswald Road, Wakefield, on January 29 this year.

He claimed the picture of his baby son surrounded by money was part of a Romanian tradition celebrating the christening of a child.

But the jury dismissed his claims and took just one- and-a-half-hours to find him guilty of conspiracy to clone bank cards.

Bunu, who police believe worked with an accomplice who is still being hunted, fitted false fronts to cash machines which were able to record both the magnetic strip identifying cards and pin numbers typed in by their owners.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Welton, from Humberside Police, said: “This was the first time Humberside Police has worked with the DCPCU [Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit] and this investigation has demonstrated that, in all inquiries similar to this, there is a need to work as a wider team with specialist groups.

“Their [the DCPCU] expertise was vital to us in order to successfully conduct this investigation.

“Furthermore, I am extremely grateful for the co-operation and assistance we received from members of the public who provided a large amount of intelligence to us in response to early media appeals.

“We will now be involved in further investigation to try and trace and recover the proceeds of Bunu’s crimes.”