A credit card fraudster is facing jail after a sharp-eyed police officer spotted that her false identity did not match the name on her bracelet.
Leona Thompson gave her name as Serena Taj when she was stopped in Newton Abbot but made the mistake of forgetting to take off her bracelet with the word Leona on it.
She had driven from her home in East London to Devon armed with six cloned credit cards which she was hoping to use to buy hundreds of pounds worth of goods from unsuspecting shops.
Thompson was caught after staff at Sainsbury in Newton Abbot became suspicious about her when she bought £277 worth of cigarettes and noted details of her car.
It was stopped nearby and she gave the false name of Taj but was arrested and searched after police spotted the bracelet, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Thompson, aged 29, of Wolseley Avenue, East Ham, admitted fraud and having six cloned cards for the use in fraud.
Her sentence was adjourned by Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, for an up dated pre sentence report. He warned her she is likely to be jailed because she was in breach of a suspended sentence and on bail for identical offences at the time of her arrest.
He told her:"You came down to this part of the world armed with six cloned credit cards and must expect immediate custody."
Mr Nigel Wraith, prosecuting, said Thompson had two cards in her own name and four in the name of Serena Taj and came to Devon in a hire car.
She bought £277.20 of cigarettes from Sainsbury in Newton Abbot and signed a credit card chit after the chip and pin failed. She shop contacted the police who stopped her nearby.
Mr Wraith said:"When she was stopped she gave the false name of Serena Taj but the officer noticed the name on her bracelet was Leona. A check on fingerprints confirmed her identity.
"She had four cards in the name of S K Taj and two in the name of L M Thompson. She made no comment in interview."
Mr Jonathan Barnes, defending, said Thompson was acting under pressure from criminals in East London and feared for the safety of her two children.
He said:"The reality of this offending is that the people who were really responsible came nowhere near the place where the cards were used."
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