Businessman jailed for £736k Boots gift card scam

Robert Bell was jailed for 33 months

A businessman who carried out a £736,000 Boots gift card scam over just two months has been jailed.

Robert Bell, 37, was involved in the con after taking advantage of a secret loophole.

He got the cards for free by filling out an order form but asked for them to be loaded with credit without the intention of paying it back.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard it was not known what Bell - who was sentenced to 33 months - spent the money on.

Jurors were told that a postman recalled a string of "special deliveries" to Bell's apparent cash and carry firm, run from a hut at a business park in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire.

Bell, of Tollcross, Glasgow, was finally caught when he tried to get his hands on another £150,000 of gift cards.

He carried out the fraudulent scheme between September and November 2017.

In her closing speech, prosecutor Hannah Terrance said: "Bell had no intention for paying for any of this credit.

"He exploited a loophole and made false pretences as part of the fraudulent scam."

The individual gift card amounts Bell illegally got his hands on varied but went up to £7,500.

Bell spent more than £500,000 of the gift cards across 30,000 transactions.

Miss Terrance told the court: "His postman described his business premises as a hut. All he could tell was that Bell was there receiving regular special deliveries."

The trial heard Bell was eventually "stopped in his tracks" on 27 November 2017.

'Customer incentive'

Bell told police he had applied for the cards in order to give them as a gift to staff and as a "customer incentive".

He claimed to have 40 employees but the postman who made the deliveries said he only witnessed one person working there.

Boots initially contacted Bell when the fraud was uncovered but he never replied.

The company was able to cancel the rest of the cards due to their unique serial numbers.

David Adams, defending, told jurors that Bell was unaware about the system error at Boots.

He added: "This was not a crime. Boots allowed him to do this due to an error on their part.

"His business had cash flow problems, his customers were not paying him and he could not pay the suppliers - one of which was Boots."