A CONMAN has been ordered to repay more than £464,000 after operating a major fraud through Amazon to sell counterfeit DVDs.

Nigel Bennetto was also given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and told he would face a further three years if he failed to repay the cash.

The 37-year-old, from Carlton Husthwaite, near Thirsk, was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court after pleading guilty to fraud at an earlier hearing.

He was initially arrested in January 2013 by the North Yorkshire force’s Financial Investigation Unit on suspicion of money laundering and offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994.

During a search of his home address several thousand DVDs were recovered which were found to be counterfeit.

It was found Bennetto had created seller accounts on Amazon using false company details in order to hide his identity.

In order to avoid giving his own telephone number he admitted to hiring telephone lines from another company.

He also used numerous computers and BT Home Hubs in order to create each seller account with a different IP address.

Between July 2012 and May 2013 he set up and operated six Amazon seller accounts which were used to sell counterfeit DVDs imported from China.

After the case acting Detective Inspector Jonathan Rowland, of the FIU said: “I am very pleased with the outcome of this investigation, with the court recognising the significant financial gain made by Nigel Bennetto as a result of his fraudulent activities.

“The financial investigator in this case deserves a great deal of credit, both in proving fraud had occurred and identifying just how much money had been made by Bennetto.”