Olanrewaju Apalara, 26 from Nigeria has been jailed for 18 months yesterday in London after admitting obtaining property by deception and converting the proceeds of criminal property. Apalara was a John Lewis sales assistant when he commited the crime. He spent nearly £1,000 of TV presenter Des O’Connor’s money as part of a massive credit card scam.He use his mobile phone to record the star’s card details and those of dozens of other customers at the company’s flagship Oxford Street store in London. Then he used the information to order electronic goods and other items from internet sites, then sold them online.
He was reported to get caught when John Lewis’s fraud department was alerted to a high number of ‘unusual transactions’ .Southwark Crown Court heard how Apalara, of Dagenham, Essex, would type customers’ card numbers into his phone while they paid for goods in the sports and gardening department. Prosecutor Ben Douglas-Jones said: ‘He used Apalara used his position of trust to obtain the details of bankcards and pin numbers from customers who he served. Cards obtained from other sources were also used.His purchases were delivered to friends and relatives all over London and he would visit them to pick up the goods. The nine-month crime spree ended when John Lewis called in police.
In December 2007, officers arrested Apalara after watching him punch a customer’s card number into his phone as he stood by the till.
He gave two false addresses, sending officers on a ‘wild goose chase’, and then refused to answer any questions.
But Mr Douglas-Jones said: ‘At his home police seized a number of items, including computers which showed the transactions. They also found evidence of a money transfer to someone in Lagos, Nigeria.’
Apalara managed to log 183 bank cards between March and December 2005, despite working only a two-day week.
He made 907 internet transactions and the court heard the value of the goods involved would have reached £300,000 if he had not been caught before they had all been delivered.His lawyer, defending, said his client turned to fraud because of his mounting student debts.
Judge Anthony Pitts told Apalara, who is studying for an MSc at King’s College London: ‘It is a tragedy and sad to see someone of your intelligence and ability in front of the court on serious offences of dishonesty.
‘It may have been that the motivation was simply to improve your own financial situation or perhaps to give money to friends and family.’
But he added: ‘Using and abusing your position, you set about for a period of nine months obtaining bank card numbers and pin numbers from customers who used your service
kenneth uwadi