A Scots hotel manager who used a guest’s credit card to buy train tickets has been jailed for fraud.
Blessing Bere, 49 of Cadiz Street, Edinburgh pled guilty to two counts of fraud and was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court on Tuesday 11 February.
The court heard how, on Thursday May 3, 2022, the alarm was raised when the customer, who had stayed overnight at the Surrey hotel where Bere was a night manager, noticed that a transaction has been made on his card to pay for train tickets and contacted LNER customer service.
The company’s customer service team alerted their fraud department, who flagged the tickets as fraudulent.
When Bere presented the tickets on a journey from London to Edinburgh on May 6, staff were immediately notified of a fraud alert from suspicious tickets.
The Revenue Protection Officer asked that Bere leave the train at Doncaster so further enquiries could be made. He was met at the station by British Transport Police officers who noted that he seemed flustered and would not explain to them how the tickets had been purchased.
Shockingly, further investigations showed that he had attempted to purchase a number of LNER tickets using different cards, and he was subsequently arrested.
Bere was searched and several items seized from him, which included multiple credit card authorisation forms for the hotel with guests’ credit card and personal details recorded on them.
It emerged that the victim had provided his credit card on arrival to hotel reception staff for any charges to his room. This was the same card that the unauthorised transaction was made on.
Detectives contacted the banks relating to the card details found on Bere and discovered that he had made charges to another guest’s account totalling almost £250.
Detective Constable Kristene Lawrence said: “Bere was in a position of trust at the hotel where he worked and customers believed that their credit card details were safe when they handed them over. However Bere chose to use this information fraudulently and for his own gain.
“Ultimately he has paid a hefty price – a criminal record, a prison sentence and unemployment. It’s safe to say that crime really doesn’t pay.”
Peter Craggs, Senior Fraud Prevention Manager at LNER, said: “We take all reports of fraud incredibly seriously and collaborate closely with BTP to protect the public. Identifying those people abusing the system and ensuring they cannot use our services to profit from their crime is key to our approach.”
“We’re pleased that the teamwork embodied by our fraud prevention, customer service and onboard teams, together with our colleagues at BTP, has led to justice being served.”