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Two university students orchestrated an astonishing £140,000 rail ticket fraud by claiming compensation twice for the same delayed journeys. Chinese national and birmingham > Birmingham University wannabe Li Liu, 26, and Wanqing Yu, 25, "exploited a loophole" in the railway refund system to amass a substantial fortune whilst sharing a student flat in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The national 'Delay Repay' scheme allows passengers to claim compensation when trains arrive late. However, Liu and Yu discovered the system lacked automatic cross-checks to verify whether customers had already received ticket refunds - a weakness that became central to their fraudulent operation. READ MORE: Thousands of Midlands M6 drivers fined for doing under 70mph Get our local newsletters like Black Country News, MySolihull and MySuttonColdfield straight to your inbox The pair initially claimed refunds for train tickets - pretending they had cancelled their travel plans - before pocketing additional money by submitting Delay Repay compensation claims on the identical journeys if trains were delayed, Leeds Crown Court was told. Following their arrest by British Transport Police, investigators discovered Liu had illegally obtained £141,031, whilst Yu had received £15,712. The duo, who have both been held on remand since their arrest, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud and possession of criminal property. The court was told they operated multiple bank accounts and fabricated 16 fictional identities to help disguise their fraud whilst living as flatmates. They also utilised a 20-SIM card adapter in a single mobile phone, enabling them to closely track their scam and create the impression that contact originated from different phones and individuals. The duo had meticulously researched train services across the country that were frequently delayed, buying tickets in advance. When the trains inevitably ran late, they would claim compensation through the national scheme, having already secured a refund for their tickets. Their fraudulent activities first came to light when CrossCountry Trains noticed something amiss, but it soon became clear that several other companies had also fallen victim to the scam, which had been ongoing since 2021. The court was told that Liu, who had no previous convictions, had begun a one-year course at Leeds University last year, having previously applied for an advanced computer science course at Birmingham University. Yu, also without any prior convictions, was enrolled on a one-year English-teaching course at Leeds. Both remained silent during their post-arrest interviews. In mitigation, Justin McClintock stated that Liu would "carry the remorse and shame for the rest of his life", adding that there was a "much more positive side to his character than reflected by his offending". He also mentioned that Liu wishes to return to China to be reunited with his family. Little was said in mitigation for Yu after Judge Howard Crowson indicated that her sentence would mean she is released imminently due to time already served on remand. Judge Crowson admonished them, saying: "You identified a weakness in the system, and between you, you abused that weakness. "There was some sophistication, you created false identities and created a large number of bank accounts in order to conceal that you were behind the fraud." Liu was sentenced to 30 months in prison, while Yu received a 17-week sentence.
