Sheffield dark web card scammers made £300k in stolen goods

Charles Coker, 38, and Ikechukwu Ezennaya, 45, bought card details on the dark web and sold goods on eBay

A pair of fraudsters used stolen credit card numbers to make £300,000 by selling luxury bikes and bags via online auction sites.

Charles Coker, 38, and Ikechukwu Ezennaya, 45, bought card details on the dark web and sold goods on eBay.

The "sophisticated" scam spanned multiple countries over three years, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

The pair, from Sheffield, were sentenced to 20 months, suspended for one year.

Coker and Ezennaya specialised in selling heavily discounted Canyon brand bikes, which normally retail at about £5,000 each.

But an investigation was launched in 2015 after the high end German brand learned that bikes were being purchased using stolen card details.

The court heard the pair also sold Anya Hindmarch bags obtained the same way to unsuspecting buyers.

The scam was mainly operated from their homes in Sheffield but involved moving the goods between addresses in various European countries.

After police used serial numbers and shipping details to trace eBay accounts to the defendants, Coker and Ezennaya's homes were searched.

The fraudsters had bought luxury Anya Hindmarch bags with stolen card details then sold the items via online auction site eBay

Designer goods were found, as well as a hidden laptop that had been used to access "carding" websites - addresses on the dark web they used to buy stolen credit card details.

Though both were initially arrested in 2015, their trial did not go ahead until 2023 - one of the reasons their sentences were significantly reduced, said the judge in the case.

Sentencing the pair on Friday, Recorder Keir Monteith KC said: "This had aspects of a highly sophisticated operation with careful planning.

"There was also considerable detrimental effects on the businesses involved.

"However there is limited evidence you are both professional, career fraudsters and have had this hanging over your heads for the past eight years."

Coker, of Elm Lane, Sheffield, and Ezennaya, of Wulfric Close, Sheffield, were also sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work.