Jail for perpetrators of 2 mln euros Portuguese car trading scam

LISBON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The perpetrators of a major online car trading scam in the north of Portugal were issued with prison sentences on Friday, with the gang's mastermind getting 12 years.

The scam involved buying cars online using stolen checks or faked transfers. Some 70 cars were thus bought fraudulently for a combined value of 2 million euros.

According to Portuguese Lusa News Agency, the gang would find cars for sale on peer-to-peer websites and contact the seller by phone. They would then meet the seller in person, often sending a respectable-looking couple to go and agree the sale. The car would then be exchanged for invalid checks or bank transfers, usually on a Friday, with banks closed for the weekend.

The scam was organized by an inner-circle of seven, all of them members of the same family in Braga, a town 320 km north of Lisbon. As operations expanded, other relatives and friends were drafted in to help.

In total, 43 defendants answered 124 charges ranging from fraud and extortion to forgery and the possession of firearms.

The gang's leader was sentenced to 12 years in jail while seven were given non-suspended sentences of between 5 years and 3 months and 8 years and 10 months.

A further 28 were given suspended sentences and one was ordered to perform 400 hours community service. The other six were absolved. Enditem