A GANG of fraudsters who plagued banks, stores and hotels used cloned credit cards, a court was told yesterday.

Two Teesside brothers and a mother were sentenced yesterday after an investigation.

Teesside Crown Court heard that mother-of-two Naseem Ahmed, 28, opened 19 bank accounts to fleece banks and stores out of £46,000. She used false documents and identification, and said she worked at Teesside University.

In one day, she opened credit accounts at seven Middlesbrough stores, and stayed at 17 hotels, including The Crathorne, Swallow, Newbus Grange, Judges and Blackwell Grange, running up bills totalling £7,500.

Mike Smith, prosecuting, said the bills were paid for with cloned credit cards belonging to innocent people.

The court heard that Ahmed, who had no previous convictions, said she was under the influence of a sophisticated fraudster.

David Lamb, in mitigation, said she was from a respectable family who were ashamed of her involvement, and that she received no financial benefit.

Ahmed, of Fleetham Street, MIddlesbrough, was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, with a two-year supervision order after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud between January 1997 and January last year.

Mazar Khan, 33, of Wilton Street, Middlesbrough, was ordered to do 100 hours of community service and was given a 12-month Community Rehabilitation order after he pleaded guilty to four charges of opening bank accounts with false details and in false names.

He also pleaded guilty to two charges of handling fraudulent cheques on behalf of a third party.

His brother, Azhar Khan, 32, of Wembley Court, Stockton, was given a 12-month Community Rehabilitation order.

He pleaded guilty to two charges of obtaining services by deception at The Crathorne and The Swallow hotels.