Revealed: Credit card fraudsters used Google StreetView to seek out isolated victims

Two Ghanaians used the internet search facility to find cut-off homes with easy-to-tamper-with mailboxes.

They then found out who lived there and made illicit credit card applications in the residents' names, before waiting for them to arrive in the post and raiding the mailboxes with a pair of tongs.

Two households in Brewood fell victim to the scam and a credit card was used to buy £1,000 of equipment from the Apple store in Birmingham.

At Stafford Crown Court, Samuel Goodwyll, aged 33, of Ipsley Grove, Birmingham, was given a 12-month suspended jail sentence after admitting charges of conspiracy and fraud.

The other man is on the run and believed to have fled back to Ghana.

They were caught before getting their hands on more phoney credit cards thanks to a suspicious postman who spotted a car following him around on his delivery route.

Mr Andrew Tucker, prosecuting, said police were alerted in November 2013 and found Goodwyll sitting in a car near Tinkers Lane, Brewood. The very same day, two residents discovered their post had been interfered with.

There were four unrequested credit cards in one of the victim's mailbox and a further six arrived subsequently. Another credit card in his name had already been used at the Apple store.

The other victim received a total of eight credit cards she had not applied for.

Following the arrest of the two suspects, Goodwyll's mobile phone and his computer at home were examined. They had been used for Google searches to identify remote properties.

When questioned, Goodwyll claimed to be just the driver for his co-conspirator.

Mr Gurdeep Garcha, defending, said the delay in bringing the case to court was no fault of his client and was because the other man had disappeared.

He said: "The authorities haven't gone to the expense of extracting him from Ghana."

He was newly arrived in the UK and Goodwyll allowed him to stay with him and his wife in Birmingham.

Mr Garcha added: "My client knew what was going on and he was very foolish to allow himself to be involved. He would have been offered a share in the offending, but he was not the organiser and he's been left to face the music."

Mr Garcha said Goodwynn, a UK resident for 10 years, was a university graduate and had never been in trouble before. He had lost his job and almost lost his wife over the offence.

He now worked as a labourer in the construction industry, but was hoping to be a quantity surveyor.