THREE Russian-speaking fraudsters went on a £2,000 shopping spree in York using fake credit cards, the city’s crown court heard.

Hrygory Sontsev, 24, Kiril Lycenko, 30, and Maxim Savchenko, 26, drove to York from Salford in January to go shopping with a number of cloned credit cards.

The court heard they made 18 successful purchases from well-known shops in York on January 10, and had two attempts fail, before they were stopped by the police. Their haul was worth almost £2,000.

Police were watching, and Lychenko and Savchenko were arrested. Sonstev was then followed to his car, where police found a further fraudulent card and he was also arrested.

The court heard that the men’s homes were searched and police seized large amounts of money, although it was not proved that this was obtained through fraud.

Sentencing the men, Judge John Swanson, said: “Before January 10 of this year you all obtained or at least jointly obtained a number of cloned credit cards. The only possible purpose in obtaining such items was to defraud somebody.

“You engaged, having armed yourselves with the methods by which you could commit fraud, in a trip to York to obtain as much property from retail outlets as you could.”

Sontsev, of Priory Avenue, Salford, Savchenko, of Gravenmoor Drive, Salford and Lycenko, of Beech Grove, Salford, were each sentenced to 18 months in prison, after they pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud using fake credit cards.