ROMANIAN fraudsters who tried to use stolen credit cards to pay for expensive gift cards from a Newport supermarket have been sentenced to a combined 18 months in prison.

Vlad Cimpan, aged 22, of no fixed abode, Tudor Cozmuta, aged 31, of Alum Rock Road in Birmingham and Marius Pomian aged 23, of no fixed abode, all pleaded guilty to possessing articles for use in fraud on October 30. They had been on remand.

Newport Crown Court heard how the offence took place in Morrisons at Corporation Road on August 15.

The trio had been targeting self-service tills across the country and were using stolen credit cards to purchase gift tokens for outlets such as Next, Pizza Hut and PC World. 

Just a day previously, Cozmuta had made off with a £200 gift card from a Morrisons store in Cheltenham.

The credit cards were inserted into the chip and pin reader and rejected as the fraudsters did not have the pin.

However, when the card was swiped on the machine, the trio were able to process the transaction and then sell the gift cards on the black market.

Unlike other major supermarkets, at the time, Morrisons did not have an assistant to monitor the self-service tills to authorise the signature each time a card was swiped.

On the date in question in Newport, however, a security guard was watching the men and followed them back to their car before phoning the police.

In separate police interviews, Cozmuta and Pomian denied the fraud and said they were just friends travelling down to Exeter.

All three defendants had no previous convictions in the UK or in their native Romania.

Defending, Gareth Williams said his clients,Cimpan and Pomian, were skilled workers in the demolition industry before turning to crime after losing their jobs.

He said: “What they both told me independently is that they came to this country to work.

“They were without income and they attempted it and paid a very big price for that.

“It’s been some shock for them to be in a prison.”

Nadeem Majid, defending Cozmuta, echoed these sentiments, saying his client had already learnt much from 101 days in custody.

Summing up and addressing the three defendants, Judge Michael Fitton said: “The potential for losses to the shops was considerable.

“What’s been said about you is that you’ve worked in the past and you are capable of working again.

“You may need some assistance to sort your lives out and get back to work.”

Judge Fitton sentenced each defendant to six months in prison and they will then be on licence for 12 months. Each of the fraudsters will have to pay £900 costs and a victim surcharge of £80. 

Judge Fitton also ordered the forfeiture of £375 Cimpan had raised from his criminal activities.