CONMEN carried out a £240,000 sting by stealing discarded account details from rubbish bags left behind banks.

They used the proceeds to fund a luxury lifestyle including hotels, hired limousines, holidays and expensive clothes.

The Brighton-based scam spread across the South East and the Midlands, and police fear the £240,000 losses so far uncovered are just the tip of the iceberg.

Two men and three women have now been arrested in raids at nine addresses in Brighton after a six-month investigation codenamed Operation Gelding.

The sophisticated fraud, dubbed Inter Branch Bank Debit, involved stealing account details from rubbish bags or in burglaries and car break-ins.

The offenders then assumed the account holder's identity and telephoned the bank branch.

They gave the stolen details to convince staff they were the account-holders, arranging cheques for between £1,500 and £2,000 to be picked up from another branch.

A fake ID card showing the villain's photo and the account holder's name, often using Nokia or Daewoo logos, was then used to collect the cheque.

Suspicious cashiers were put at ease by the fraudsters depositing money at the same time - using a stolen cheque made payable to the account holder.

On one occasion the cheque was used to buy a car, which was then sold for cash. Others were used to buy foreign currency at Thomas Cook.

The five people arrested, aged between 20 and 40 and all from Brighton, were traced with the help of bank and street security cameras.

Police seized forged ID cards, card-making equipment, stolen bank documents, cheque books and credit cards.

They also discovered maps and lists of bank branches where they operated the con - an area stretching across Sussex, the South East, the West Country and the Midlands.

Police say the £240,000 only represents the amount they know about - some account holders not checking their monthly bank statements carefully may have missed some withdrawals.

Det Insp Malcolm Bacon, of Brighton CID, said since the con was uncovered banks have tightened security, especially with the depositing of branch rubbish bags.

He said inquiries were continuing and more arrests were anticipated.

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