Criminal gang scammed TfL out of £2million by offering adults fraudelent child Oyster cards

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Criminal gang scammed TfL out of £2million by offering adults fraudelent child Oyster cards

After almost five years of investigations and prosecutions, a criminal ring that used an elaborate set-up to scam an estimated £2million from Transport for London (TfL) has been dismantled. According to TfL's latest audit and assurance report, nine people have been successfully convicted for conspiracy to defraud the city's transport authority.

The scammers offered people cheaper TfL fares they were not eligible for, by submitting fraudulent applications for child-rate Oyster cards. The cards tended to offer 50 per cent discounts on TfL services and free bus/tram travel as part of the 16+ Zip Oyster concessionary scheme. Over 60 social media accounts and pages advertised the scheme, which is believed to have started over five years ago - these have now been blocked or closed down.

In August 2018, a London Underground employee alerted TfL to the scam, which was investigated by TfL's in-house fraud team, then referred to the British Transport Police (BTP). Together, they blocked a total of 13,500 cards, showing the scale of the operation.

READ MORE: The London Underground's rare sections where you'll end up waiting at least 30 minutes for a train

Oyster card is being shown at underground escalator steps in London, United Kingdom
The fraudsters facilitated false Oyster applications

As a result of the investigation, ten people were arrested, nine were convicted (including prison sentences) and additional controls have been implemented in TfL's concessionary scheme applications.

TfL estimates "over £2million" of actual losses was likely, although the exact figure is difficult to quantify given the nature of the scheme. It has been awarded £68,000 of damages from the convicted.

In September 2020, Shaquille Moore was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for selling 16+ Zip Oyster photocards through social media under the alias ‘Ben Franklin’. He offered people false documents which allowed them to pass the age verification checks for applications.

He made over £35,000 from his criminality and is believed to have effectively facilitated up to £1million of lost revenue from TfL. In September 2022, Joshua Marchant was forced to wear an electronic tag and received a 26 week prison sentence suspended for a year for claiming fraudulent delay repay compensation over two years.

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