A Newport man who used fraudulent Nectar points to buy electronic items to sell for profit has been sentenced for fraud.

Modestas Ceckauskas, 24, fraudulently accrued Sainsbury’s Nectar points to buy items which he later sold for profit to the tune of £5,820.66. He scammed PayPal by sending back empty parcels and getting refunds.

Ceckauskas of Lambert Street, Newport, was given a 6-month sentence suspended for 12 months by Judge Daniel Williams at Newport Crown Court on Wednesday, October 23.

Between January 28, 2021, and February 10, 2021, Ceckauskas made 150 orders using the Nectar points.

Nuhu Gobir, prosecuting, said Ceckauskas got the Nectar points for the half price from a third party and used them to buy items such as a PlayStation and then went on to “sell them on for a higher price”.

Alongside the PlayStation Ceckauskas fraudulently bought other computing and electronic devices from Argos.  

On another count of fraud, in December 2019 Ceckauskas also conned PayPal by getting refunds for more electronic items he ordered from computer company Overlockers UK.

He ordered the items electronic items on December 17, 2019 and pretended to return them by sending back empty cardboard boxes six days later, claiming that the items were not what he had ordered.

Overlockers UK were covered by insurance for the scam and PayPal paid Ceckauskas the refunds he asked for.

Mr Gobir said the amount Ceckauskas had got out of scam totalled £805.25 and was covered by PayPal at the time when they refunded him.

Mr Gobir said the two cases of fraud – the Nectar point fraud and the PayPal scam - were “sophisticated” and required planning.

Gareth Williams, defending, said that the offences were a “really long time ago” and that Ceckauskas “hasn’t committed any offence in the meantime.”

“At the moment he is working hard at a construction site,” said Mr Williams.

Mr Williams said that Ceckauskas has turned his life around in the last three and a half years, having quit alcohol and drugs.

Alongside his suspended sentence, Judge Daniel Williams ordered that Ceckauskas must complete 12 months of unpaid work in the community and ten days of rehabilitation.