Stratford fraudster jailed for hijacking accounts of 70 Next customers

A fraudster who hijacked the accounts of 70 Next.co.uk customers to order himself clothes and jewellery worth more than £35,000 has been jailed.

Wayne Eifert, 39, of Rye Mansions, Napa Close, Stratford, was sentenced to 12 months behind bars at Snaresbrook Crown Court earlier today.

Eifert used 19 of the 70 accounts he hijacked to order goods including men and women’s clothing, handbags, homeware and bedware, which he collected from numerous branches of the company across London between August 2013 and November 2014.

Next became suspicious when Eifert tried to use some of the other accounts to order goods.

They cancelled the order and alerted police.

Wayne Eifert has been jailed for fraud - Credit: Archant

Detectives from the Met’s cyber crime and fraud team, FALCON, began an investigation and searched through CCTV footage, in which Eifert was seen collecting his goods from various stores.

Officers arrested Eifert in November last year after he returned from a trip to the Ilford branch where he collected £600-worth of childrenswear and trainers.

Altogether, 50 Next products were recovered at his home address, and officers also seized a laptop which contained evidence of the orders having been made.

Eifert pleaded guilty to fraud and possession of articles for use in fraud at Snaresbrook Crown Court last month.

Investigating officer, DC Ian Moody, of FALCON, said: “This case is an example of how FALCON is working with businesses to catch cyber fraudsters.

“Next identified that suspicious orders were being made via their website and alerted us. They assisted us with our investigation and, as a result, we arrested Eifert who, I believe, would have continued defrauding the company for as long as he could.”