Leeds students jailed after £140,000 train ticket scam exploiting rail refund loophole
Two sneaky university students pulled off a jaw-dropping £140,000 train ticket scam by cashing in twice on delayed journeys.
Chinese students Li Liu, 26, and Wanqing Yu, 25, "exploited a loophole" in the rail refund system to make a small fortune while living together at their student flat in Leeds,.
Under the national 'Delay Repay' scheme, passengers can claim compensation when a train arrives late.
But Lu and Yiu discovered there were not automatic cross-checks to find out whether a customer had already had their ticket refunded - a flaw that proved key to their con.
The pair would first claim refunds for train tickets - pretending they no longer wanted to travel - then pocket extra cash by applying for Delay Repay compensation on the same journeys if the trains ran late, Leeds Crown Court heard.
When British Transport Police finally arrested them, it was found that Liu had illegally acquired £141,031, while Yu had received £15,712.
The duo, who were both held on remand since their arrest, admitted charges of conspiracy to defraud and possession of criminal property.
The court heard they had multiple bank accounts and had created 16 fictitious people to help conceal their fraud while living as flatmates.
They also used a 20-SIM card adapter in a single phone so they could closely monitor their scam and make it appear contact was from different phones and people.
The pair had even researched services all across the country which were often late and they would buy tickets in advance.
When the trains were late, they would apply through the national scheme for compensation, having already claimed a refund for the tickets.
Their scam was first realised by CrossCountry Trains, but several other companies were also affected. It was found that the scam had been in operation since 2021.
The court heard that Liu, who had no previous convictions, had started a one-year course at Leeds University last year.
He had previously applied for an advanced computer science course at Birmingham University.
Yu, who also had no previous convictions, was on a one-year English-teaching course at Leeds.
Both gave no-comment interviews after their arrest.
Mitigating, Justin McClintock said Liu would "carry the remorse and shame for the of his life".
He said there was a "much more positive side to his character than reflected by his offending".
He said that Lui also wants to return to China to reunite with his family.
Little mitigation was offered for Yu after Judge Howard Crowson said her sentence would mean she is released imminently due to time already served on remand.
Judge Crowson told them: "You identified a weakness in the system, and between you, you abused that weakness.
"There was some sophistication, you created false identities and created a large number of bank accounts in order to conceal that you were behind the fraud."
He jailed Liu for 30 months, and Yu for 17 weeks.