Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

he could have lived for 81 yrs. bad luck.

what a pathetic barbaric race!

you care your sinhala sodiers no? they losing their lives and limbs daily. first care about your own.

and what about those over 100 died in Malavi, they could have atleast reached 40 according to PEEElam standards! what a pathetic barbaric race!

he could have lived for 81 yrs. bad luck.

we do thats y keep track of them and their families, unlike foreign cannibal lovers, who just praying for their toilet cleaning jobs sacrificing thousands of nobodies!

PETROL STATION WORKER JAILED FOR CARD SCAM
BY SUZY GIBSON
COURT STAFF

10:30 - 05 August 2008

A petrol station worker cloned more than 500 customer bank cards in a 175,000 worldwide scam.

The card details were used to obtain goods and cash in countries, including India, Canada and America.

Unsuspecting customers who bought fuel at the Jet service station, in Houghton-on-the-Hill, had no idea cashier Abdul Samad Mohamed Raik used a cloning device when processing their card payments.

His trusting employer also had no idea the scam was taking place, Leicester Crown Court was told.

Police launched a major investigation after dozens of customers complained their cards had been used as far away as Australia and Malaysia, the Leicester Mercury reported at the time.

Raik, a 33-year-old Sri-Lankan national of Gilbert Close, Rushey Mead, Leicester, was jailed for two years and nine months after pleading guilty to the fraud between October and December last year. He also admitted possessing a false Indian passport.

Justin Wigoder, prosecuting, said Raik worked at the filling station for 13 months.

He said the owner was 'completely unaware' of any problems until last December, when two customers contacted him saying records for cards used at his petrol station showed unusual foreign transactions.

The defendant was seen on CCTV swiping cards through a cloning machine so the details could be used all over the world. About 500 cards' details were obtained in total.

Raik left his job in December, but gave himself up to police in March this year.

He claimed he became involved in the fraud after running up a 3,000 debt with a loan shark connected to Sri-Lankan guerrilla warfare group the Tamil Tigers, who had threatened him when he struggled to make payments following the birth of his daughter in 2007.

He also handed in a false Indian passport bearing bogus details and his photo, saying he was given it by the organisers of the scam to help him flee the UK.

Raik was forced to dishonestly clone the cards, using a machine they gave him, to pay off the debt and for no personal gain.

When customers began complaining, he left the job.

Recorder Duncan Smith said: 'It was a gross breach of trust to your employer, who is a businessman relying on the good faith of his staff and on the custom his customers bring him.

'One doesn't know how badly his business will be affected or if some people will choose to go elsewhere for their petrol.

'Even though you had the wherewithal (the false passport) to spirit yourself away from the jurisdiction you handed yourself in to the police and made the investigation easier. You made a clean breast of what you'd done.

'It was a huge fraud and your involvement in it was brought to an end by yourself after a relatively short period of time.'

The Leicester Mercury reported at the time that garage owner and mechanic Jim Funnell delivered letters to every household in the village apologising for the scam, and urging anyone who had been affected to contact police if they had not already done so.

Villagers sent him cards and letters pledging their support.

In 1999, Raik applied for entry to the UK as a student, which was granted until October 2005.

In August 2006, he applied to remain as a spouse of a Latvian national, although the application was withdrawn in May this year.

His immigration status is currently under review.

we do thats y keep track of them and their families,

Raik, a 33-year-old Sri-Lankan national of Gilbert Close,

He claimed he became involved in the fraud after running up a 3,000 debt with a loan shark connected to Sri-Lankan guerrilla warfare group the Tamil Tigers, who had threatened him when he struggled to make payments following the birth of his daughter in 2007.

He also handed in a false Indian passport bearing bogus details and his photo, saying he was given it by the organisers of the scam to help him flee the UK.