Zavvi Direct fraudsters jailed

Two men involved in the £250,000 Zavvi Direct scam uncovered by Computeractive were each jailed for two years and were subject to a Proceeds of Crime Confiscation order with a benefit figure of £37,236 each. on Friday.

Demis Farley, 29, and Marco Caracciolo, 38, both of Ramsgate, Kent, had been convicted of money laundering offences at Lewes Crown Court in January this year, but sentencing was repeatedly adjourned. On one occasion because Caracciolo was ill in hospital.

Detective Constable Nigel Tillings, the officer in charge of the investigation, told us at the time of the verdict that he was "delighted with the result of this case" so far.

Computeractive began investigating the Zavvi Direct scam in June 2008 after a reader complained that a Nintendo Wii Fit product he ordered online from 'Zavvi' had not arrived.

Our investigations showed the reader had actually ordered from Zavvi Direct, a site set up by criminals that was designed to fool visitors into believing it was the official site for legitimate retailer Zavvi.

The scam site offered many must-have gadgets such the hard-to-find Wii Fit, as well as mobile phones and other devices.

Zavvi Direct shared contact details with two more websites; www.zavvisports.co.uk and www.bestsportsworld.co.uk that had both operated by the gang in the Kent and Sussex areas.

We discovered the gang behind the crimes had also stolen the identities of two legitimate businessmen. We alerted Sussex Police, Barclays, and Protx to the fraud. Further payments were stopped. Some of the funds going to Zavvi Direct's business account were frozen in a holding account.

Many of the 2,500 people who were conned told us they felt stupid, but they should not have.

DC Tillings said: "It would have been very difficult for any of the customers of the website to have noticed anything about it that would have made them suspicious"

He told Computeractive that he did not think the two men were the brains behind the scams.

" The persons directly involved in this and other similar frauds rely on persons ,such as these defendants, in order to launder the money obtained from their crimes to try and give it an air of legitimacy.

"I am disappointed that I was unable to progress further in this investigation to identify the main offenders but hopefully this sentence will pass a message to anyone tempted to allow their bank accounts to be used by others,in return for a small payment, that it is not worth it. They may get away with it but you won't!!"