Duo jailed for a £2 million online banking fraud

Two men, who siphoned £2 million through fraudulent bank accounts, have today been jailed.

The illicit actions of Vijaya Krishnasamy, 32 and Chandrasekar Nallayan, 44, were discovered following an investigation into online banking fraud.

Victims who thought they were paying for goods or services were actually sending money to Krishnasamy and Nallayan, who were posing as the legitimate suppliers.

The duo would use ‘cash-out’ pages on social media to move small amounts of money into other accounts that they owned to avoid suspicion and cover the illicit source of the funds.

Using this method between February 2018 and May 2019, Nallayan and Krishnasamy took more than £2 million from online customers.

The prosecution used a wealth of evidence in this case, including the IP address Krishnasamy had used to access the bank accounts the fraudulent money had been moved to.

When Krishnasamy’s phone was analysed, thousands of Whatsapp messages were uncovered that showed he was reporting to Nallayan.

As the funds eventually ended up in bank accounts Nallayan owned, the prosecution was able to show his involvement in the £2 million fraud scheme.

Today, at Croydon Crown Court, Nallayan has been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment and Krishnasamy to five years and nine months for money laundering and fraud offences.

Carl Roberts of the CPS said: “These men used social media platforms to make the stolen money appear legitimate, but the 90,000 pages of evidence in this case, proved that it was not.

“Comprehensive analysis by both the Met Police and the CPS’s specialist fraud division of their banking activity allowed the prosecution to prove the duo’s guilt beyond doubt, and they will now spend a collective time of nearly 13 years behind bars.

“Nallayan and Krishnasamy took more than £2million from victims and we will now be taking steps to recover this stolen money through Proceeds of Crime.”