Four students of the University of the West Indies, Mona, appeared before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court last Friday to answer to fraud-related charges.

Charged with and receiving stolen property, obtaining money by means of false pretence, and knowingly obtaining identification information are Collin Lynch, 23, from Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, and Jesse Johnson, also 23, from Goldsmith Villa, St Andrew.

Twenty-year-old Sasha-Gaye Marsden of Mona Heights, St Andrew, is charged with conspiracy to defraud and charged with receiving stolen property is Diana Ferguson, 22, from Caymanas, St Catherine.

Allegations are that the accused persons were involved in a credit card scam in which university students were approached and offered a scholarship. It is believed that during the scheme, monies in the sum of $15,000 were collected from students, promising that a portion of their tuition fees would be paid. It was revealed that the sum of money collected was purported to be a fee charged so as to bribe members of the fictitious scholarship board to ensure that the parties would benefit from the bogus scholarship programme.

It was revealed that there was no scholarship programme, and instead, the fees were paid by way of stolen credit cards.

In court, Marsden and Ferguson both had their bails extended by Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey. Johnson and Lynch had their requests for bail denied and were further remanded. The four accused are scheduled to reappear in court on May 26.