He thus was able to bag coin from his victims' unremarkably secure PayPal accounts.
He transferred coin from PayPal into hundreds of his ain accounts, together with thus used the stolen cash to purchase valuable items, including gilt bars.
On Fri he was jailed for 3 together with a one-half years for fraud together with theft committed betwixt 2008 together with 2010.
Nottingham Crown Court heard he stole to a greater extent than than £180,000 from his victims to purchase gilt jewellery, gilt bullion bars together with a Mitsubishi Shogun machine on eBay.
Victims were mainly private line of piece of employment organization human relationship holders from Mansfield, Nottingham, Commonwealth of Australia together with Sweden.
One line of piece of employment organization human relationship belonged to a exceptional schoolhouse inward the North West for children amongst a curt life expectancy.
Kirk used the school's website, which sold memorabilia, to sell gilt bars.
After he agreed a sale of £3,000, the gilt was never sent to the buyer.
"Richard Kirk is a professional person eBay-cum-PayPal hacker," said Martin Hurst, prosecuting.
"What this human being has been doing is attacking other people's accounts together with stealing their coin on a daily footing for hours at a time."
Aged alone 22, Kirk had considerable science at guessing users' answers to safety questions.
By claiming to convey forgotten the password, he would reply a sequence of safety questions they would convey previously answered.
He guessed the type of commencement machine users drove, their twelvemonth of nascency or favourite colour.
The courtroom heard people oft used the same password on their eBay accounts, which gave Kirk a means inward to pass their money.
Users of PayPal convey registered addresses, simply Kirk would inquire them to live on sent to about other address.
This meant that many victims, who realised their accounts had been hacked into, could non instruct their coin dorsum when they alerted PayPal.
PayPal was unable to reclaim £40,000 – which it has right away paid dorsum to people had lost coin because of Kirk's offences– because people who Kirk had bought items from had already transferred the cash to their depository fiscal establishment accounts.
Kirk took command of their PayPal accounts together with gear upwards hundreds of accounts linked to his habitation address inward Bradmore Rise, Sherwood.
Detective Constable Dave Prest explained: "PayPal had the ability to contrary the payment when the master copy person's line of piece of employment organization human relationship was hacked into. But where it is sent to a dissimilar address, to an unverified address from the i on the website, thus PayPal does non reimburse customers.
"This is where the seller has come upwards unstuck."
Martin Elwick, inward mitigation, said: "What is a remarkable characteristic of the fraud is that he uses his habitation address for the delivery of every unmarried item.
"It beggars belief PayPal never brought it to an halt years agone – they tin describe each transaction to his habitation address."
Kirk pleaded guilty to 5 charges of fraud, 4 of theft together with i relating to the purpose of a laptop during the frauds.
Judge Ebrahim Mooncey said: "A lot of endeavour was seat inward past times y'all over a long catamenia of fourth dimension inward lodge to ship the fraud y'all did."
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 proceeds of offense hearing – which volition attempt Kirk's assets – has been adjourned.
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