How police cracked students scam to pay off £140,000 fees using only delay repay from failing train companies

Two international students have been jailed after scamming train companies by claiming compensation for delayed trains they weren’t even on.

Li Liu, 26, and Wanqing Yu, 25, managed to claim around £140,000 to pay for their living expenses and tuition fees in Leeds.

Leeds Crown Court heard how the pair, living in student digs in Clay Pit Lane, used false identities, disposable email accounts, and international bank transfers to trick train companies into paying them.

They were rumbled by CrossCountry Trains who worked out the scam Liu and Yu were using only after they amassed a whopping 447 fraudulent transactions.

Other train companies later found themselves to have also been the target of Liu and Yu’s scheme, which ran from October 2021 until February this year.

Detectives spotted a common theme with the transactions, which used fake names and non-residential addresses tied to the pair.

Email addresses making the claims were also found to be single-use and Chinese in origin.

Virtual bank accounts were then used to move the cash quickly. Detectives followed the trail to a company processing tuition fees and other accounts used to withdraw cash in Jiangxi, China.

British Transport Police finally caught up to the pair when a mail redirection service sent the delay repayment forms to Lui and Yu’s actual address in Yorkshire instead of the fake addresses they put on their forms.

Police swooped and arrested them. Their investigation found that Liu had paid his entire university course using the scam with Yu paying off a majority of her student debts.

Liu pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and conspiracy to acquire criminal property and was handed a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence at Leeds Crown Court.

Yu also pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and conspiracy to acquire criminal property, and was handed a 17-week prison sentence.

DS Alexandra Carter said: ‘I’m extremely pleased with the result in this case. Liu and Yu found a weakness in the system and relentlessly abused it for their own benefit at great cost to the train operating companies.

‘It’s important to remember this isn’t a victimless crime.

‘In defrauding the Train Operating Companiess to fund their lifestyle, they’ve also made a mockery of the average commuters who have spent hard-earned money on train tickets – lost to these malicious criminals who worked at great lengths to conceal their wrongdoing.

‘Thankfully, in the end we were able to track down Liu and Yu and bring them to justice, and I hope that this sends a message to anyone who would think of attempting anything similar.’