Two South Norwood fraudsters who bought near £1million of luxury goods after tricking banks into lending them money have been jailed.

Frank Allan and Marcus Carter, both of Belgrave Road, created fake companies to apply for credit from well-known businesses, including American Express and Barclaycard.

Along with Marcus Carter, who is already serving a prison sentence for an unrelated offence, they purchased high end electronics, vehicles and watched.

The goods were then delivered to virtual offices opened using the same fictitious details used to create the companies. Once delivered, the goods were removed and the suspects moved on.

Fraud Investigator and officer in charge of the case, Andy Cope, said: “These three men thought they could get away with their devious crimes, however the Fraud Squad’s investigation has uncovered the full extent of their complex fraudulent activity.”

“Today’s sentencing should serve as a warning to those who are thinking about committing similar offences; this is not a victimless crime. We work tirelessly to pursue fraudsters to make sure that justice is served.”

“The POCA orders sought by the prosecution today will stop the offenders from being able to re-offend, and will remove any financial benefit they gained from the offending.”

Between June 2014 and February 2016, the defendants would, using false documents, buy an inactive company name and appoint a fictitious director.

Once the company had been formally established, fake back-dated accounts were submitted to Companies House which gave the impression that they had a very successful trading history and represented a low credit risk.

They would then make applications to their chosen credit card companies, who after carrying out the necessary checks, were reassured by the false information and approved a line of credit.

This gave the fraudsters and their fraudulent companies access to a high credit limit. The suspects would then rapidly spend up to this limit, without making any repayments. This is known as short firm fraud.

This case was initially reported to the City of London Police as a case of a fraudulent application for, and subsequent use of, American Express corporate cards. When the investigation into this criminality started, the wider criminal network was uncovered.

The three men were sentenced to a joint 25 years at Southwark Crown court on December 13.