Men cloned MP’s bank card to buy luxury clothes

Nadine Dorries says ‘sophisticated technology-enabled theft can affect anyone’

The men made a fraudulent copy of the health minster’s bank card (PA)

Two men cloned a health minister’s bank card and attempted to use it to buy designer clothing worth more than £2,000 online, a court has heard.

Nadine Dorries, MP for Mid Bedfordshire made a report to Action Fraud after noticing suspicious transactions on her bank statement in October 2019.

After making a fraudulent copy of Ms Dorries’ card, the pair ordered a Canada Goose coat worth £958 and a Moncler jacket worth £1,080. However, both transactions were flagged as suspicious by the website and no payment was taken from the health minister’s account.

Cory Chin, 24, of Walthamstow, east London was given a 12-month community order at Westminster Magistrates Court.

The trainee engineer, who had pleaded guilty to attempting to buy the Canada Goose coat, was also ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and pay costs of £175.

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The court heard that Chin had “no idea” who Ms Dorries was and did not target her as an MP.

Sentencing him, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser acknowledged that “no actual financial loss was suffered by the complainant” and said that Chin had shown “genuine remorse” for his actions.

A second man, Korri Mclean, 30, from Epping, will be sentenced at a later date at as he committed the offence whilst serving a suspended sentence.

Both men had previously pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation.

Officers from the City of London Police’s fraud team were able to track down the pair using the IP addresses from which the orders were made, as men had made the online purchases from their homes.

Ms Dorries said: “This kind of sophisticated technology-enabled theft can affect anyone and I am so grateful to the police for arresting these criminals.”

Det Con Warren Joseph, from the City of London Police, said: “Through the good work of the banks and the online retail industry to prevent suspicious transactions, the victim in this case is not out of pocket.

“Despite this, Ms Dorries, correctly, still made a report to Action Fraud, which meant we were able to track down those responsible for the offence and bring them before the courts.”