Havard, 24, and Elwood, 25, were arrested in June last year, after officers from the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) began investigating a conspiracy by Eastern European crime syndicates to target UK banks and steal cash from customers’ accounts.
The fraudsters sent e-mails to obtain sensitive information from recipients, which was then sent to Havard and Elwood to obtain credit cards under false names and to plunder bank accounts.
The pair would use the money and credit cards to buy goods and arrange for them to be sold on internet auctions, sending the proceeds, minus their cut, back to their Russian counterparts.
According to the NHTCU, the men stole around £750,000 in the 10 months during which they were under investigation; but they could have taken as much as £6.5 million in two years.
Both Havard and Elwood have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to launder money.
Havard may well face extradition proceedings as, according to reports, the US authorities are anxious to question him over his failure to appear at court in Texas, on charges of armed robbery and counterfeiting.
