'Catch Me If You Can' travel agent stole credit card details to jet round world

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Reece Scobie, 20, toured the globe after duping travel agents last year
He is serving a 16-month jail term in Scotland for the £70,000 deception
Scobie was today given another sentence in London for credit card fraud
He used stolen details to book thousands of pounds of train travel
Even complained when one of the fraudulently-booked services was late

Published: 16:13 EST, 21 January 2014 | Updated: 16:29 EST, 21 January 2014

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Jailed: Reece Scobie, 20, was jailed for nine charges related to fraud at Southwark Crown Court today

A conman likened to Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Catch Me If You Can after bankrolling a jet-set lifestyle by deceiving travel agents has admitted a further round of credit card frauds.

Reece Scobie, 20, who is already serving a prison sentence in Scotland, was handed another eight months behind bars for using stolen card details to book train travel an hotel stays inside the UK.

His original crimes, for which he was jailed earlier this year, cost agents including his former employers Thomson Travel more than £70,000 as he booked flights and luxury hotel stays in Singapore, Los Angeles, new York and Abu Dhabi.

Scobie, who has Asperger's Syndrome, booked at least five luxury holidays, costing between £5,000 and £10,000 each, before his deceptions caught up with him.

But he was brought before Southwark Crown Court today to answer for a separate collection of bookings, which saw him travel up and down the UK - often for no obvious reason.

The court also heard that on one occasion Scobie even demanded - and was given - compensation when one of the fraudulently-booked services was late.

He used popular websites, such as trainline.com and ebooker.com, to obtain customer card details, intercepting online bookings which were sent out to hotels and venues. He was then able to use these details to book further travel and hotel stays.

Prosecutor Miranda Jollie said: ‘These were online frauds. They would find compromised credit cards and use them for high-value train tickets. The companies involved notified the British Transport Police.’

Scobie illegaly booked £10,423 of tickets from WorldlineUK, and £7,643 from Trainline.

‘The police identified what he was doing, firstly because he was using a council internet account at the local library to makes these transactions', Miss Jollie said.

‘CCTV of someone picking up the tickets at the machine was shown to be him. What he was doing was hacking into the emails sent from booking websites to hotels and taking the customer details and using these to make purchases of tickets.

Auckland: The teenager booked round-the-world trips taking in Dubai, Auckland (pictured) and New York

Vancouver: The teenager also visited Vancouver, Canada, while on his global travels

‘On one occasion, he had made a complaint about a delay and had been awarded compensation.’

When officers searched Scobie, they found scores of train booking confirmations and ‘details of fraudulent credit cards’.

But rather than selling the tickets for profit, Scobie retained them until they expired, which was a symptom of his Asperger’s, said Kieran Moroney, defending.

Movie: The con was worthy notorious con-man Frank Abagnale jr, portrayed here by Leonardo DiCaprio in the Hollywood blockbuster film Catch Me If You Can

Mr Moroney said: ‘This was planned but not professionally planned. Many of the tickets were duplicates, many of them were expired. This is a very isolated young man. He is a lonely young man.

‘A lot of the time he was getting the train down to London then going back to Scotland, back and forth, back and forth’, Mr Moroney said.

Sentencing Scobie to an eight month sentence, to be served after his Scottish prison term, Judge John Price said, ‘He is not a professional, in the sense that he is in a criminal network, selling these tickets on.

‘You are 20. You have got Asperger’s. You are having a lonely time in prison. If you don’t learn now, you never will.’

Scobie admitted three charges of fraud, two of possessing articles for use in fraud and four of unlawful interception of emails from laterooms.com to the Lerryn Hotel and the Denehurst Hotel.

He also admitted an additional count of fraud by false representation and a single count of possessing an article for the use in fraud.

Scobie will complete his prison term in Scotland by June, then serve out his latest sentence.