ASDA Scammers' "Nice Little Earner"

L to R: Parsons, Baldock & Macaree

A greedy group of thieves exploited ASDA's new self-service system to repeatedly steal cash back from the automated machines - hitting the store 150 times in just six days - in a scam described by a judge as a "nice little earner."

They took turns to make tiny purchases with a bank card, but then requested £50 cash back each time, taking advantage of a security lapse, which failed to check whether the card was in credit.

ASDA's total loss was £7,500 and they have since changed the automated tills software to avoid anymore similar scams.

Ringleader Mark Baldock, 34, of Sydney Road, Sutton pleaded guilty to stealing £318; Tyron Parsons, 22, of Washington Road, Worcester Park admitted stealing £1,200; Keeley Macaree, 22, of Senga Road, Wallington admitted stealing £2,350 and Claire Collins, 28, of Kingston Avenue, Sutton admitted stealing £866.

Prosecutor Mr. Julius Capon told Croydon Crown Court that Baldock opened the account on November 22, last year and it was used for nothing other than the thefts, which took place between December 27 and January 3 in the Sutton area.

"Mr. Baldock was the prime mover and this group took advantage of vulnerabilities in ASDA's security and authorisation.

"When ASDA introduced electronic self-service tills they allowed cash back of up to ninety pounds without any authorisation.

"This group purchased very low priced items and requested cash back of fifty pounds and no checks were made to ensure there were funds in the account of the cardholder.

"Mr. Baldock allowed his account to become overdrawn and made no effort to pay it off. It was theft to just obtain the cash."

The gang were rounded up after ASDA and the police checked CCTV of the defendants repeatedly entering stores and withdrawing cash.

The Recorder of Croydon Warwick McKinnon said: "We are dealing here with a nice little criminal venture with repeated attempts to exploit this quirk in the system. This, on the face of it is organised crime.

"This is slightly easier than shoplifting. You get the money and leave and no one is going to stop you.

"Baldock was the driving force behind this nice little earner. He is the number one, whose brainchild this is."

Couple Baldock and Collins are serial shoplifters and she has thirty-six previous convictions, mostly for theft.

Parsons has forty-eight convictions and Keeley a record for alcohol-related offending.

Baldock was sentenced to 20 weeks imprisonment; Collins received a 12 month community order with drug rehabilitation; Parsons received 4 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months and Keeley an 18 month community order with an alcohol treatment requirement.