The six month investigation, dubbed Operation Skoda, involved police working with Egg to create software to detect multiple on-line account applications. Four men and one woman were arrested in August 2000 and charged under the Criminal Justice Act. Last week they received sentences at Aylesbury Crown Court ranging from 60 hours’ community service to 30 months’ imprisonment.
At the time of the arrests, a spokesman for Smile pointed out that: “the internet is irrelevant in this case – it would be the same operation whether they had applied by post or on-line.”
According to reports, the total sum defrauded was around £100,000.