Royal Mail scam fraudster aided operation while studying

Police officers found electronic equipment, mobile phones and sim cards all linked to scams when they raided 20-year-old Deventon Melle’s flat in May 2021.

A GSM modem was found to be sending 4,345 Royal Mail “smishing” texts at the time officers raided The Maltings accommodation in Haven Road, Colchester.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard the texts warned the recipient they were £2.99 short on postage and packaging and needed to click a link to get their package.

Scam - the operation was run from Melle's flat in The Maltings (Image: Google)

From here the victims would be taken to a website purporting to be Royal Mail and tricked into handing over their bank details.

Melle, of Haven Road, Colchester, admitted three offences of possessing an article for use in fraud and one offence of fraud by false representation.

He was handed a 20 month suspended prison sentence.

The court heard Melle had 99,999 email addresses and their corresponding passwords, details for 54 bank cards and 145 sim cards when the police raided his flat.

Student - Melle studied computer science at the University of Essex (Image: Google)

Jane Oldfield, prosecuting, said more than 15,000 unauthorised transactions were made by PayPal accounts compromised by Melle, a computer science student at the University of Essex.

The total sum of money spent fraudulently was $89,648, but the court heard Melle only benefitted from about £5,000 of this in the form of food purchased for him instead of cash.

Ms Oldfield said the cash was then laundered through clothes websites and investment in cryptocurrency.

She added Melle had been involved with the scam for about seven months and had an “action plan” noted on a piece of paper.

Fraud - Melle has been handed a suspended sentence (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Judge Timothy Godfrey said: “You were caught red handed.

“You clearly didn’t care about who you were defrauding or what their individual circumstances might be.”

But the judge said he accepted Melle was an “immature” 18-year-old when he became involved.

Danielle Byford, mitigating, said Melle was struggling to afford food and was “in desperation” for money at the time.

She added he was “too anxious” and “ashamed” to ask his strict parents for money and that Melle “lost everything” during a robbery last year.

Melle must undertake 250 hours of unpaid work and 20 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement.