A student who gained over £2m from credit card fraud may have used KU's computers to develop his technology.

Kingston University says it is impossible to tell whether a Computer Science student, who was jailed for a credit card scam last week, used University facilities to develop the technology.

Anup Patel worked on the Bluetooth technology he could use for the scam as part of his final year project, Croydon Crown Court was told. The work was found in his office during a police raid in 2006.

A University spokesperson said: "We were unaware of any allegations relating to misuse of computing facilities during Mr Patel's time studying at the University. We are unable to speculate as to where Mr Patel developed the technology or what skills he might have used.”

Patel, of Thornton Heath, handed himself in to police in 2006 after two of his accomplices were arrested. Before this he had taunted Det Sgt Simon Russen, the officer in charge of the investigation, during a telephone call comparing himself to famous con artist Frank Abagnale Jr, who was played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the film Catch Me if you Can.

Judge Nicholas Ainley, sentencing Patel at Croydon Crown Court on Tuesday, said police uncovered an “industrial-scale factory” when they raided Patel's lock-up on a Croydon industrial estate. The fake cards were delivered by courier to foreign locations where chip and PIN is not used, so that they could be used more easily.

Police believe Patel, 30, used hidden cameras and devices concealed in card readers at petrol stations around the M25 to obtain customers' card information, which was used to make purchases and cash withdrawals worth over £2 million pounds. He was sentenced alongside accomplice Anthony Thomas, 45, of Balham, South London, who acted as a courier.

Judge Ainley told Patel, who graduated from Kingston with a 2:2 in 2006: "I don't know your precise role but I am quite sure you were close to the centre of the organisation."

Both Patel and Thomas pleaded not guilty to the offences of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to steal, but a jury found them guilty and they were sentenced to six and two years in prison respectively.

Det Sgt Simon Russen said: "The potential losses on the card numbers recovered from the premises would account for in excess of £16 million worth of losses to the banking world." It remains unclear how their devices were put in place at the petrol stations.

Since Chip and PIN was introduced nationwide in 2004, card fraud in the UK has decreased dramatically. However, last year saw a rise in fraud committed on UK-issued cards, according to Card Watch.

A spokesman for Lloyds TSB attributed this phenomenon to the success of chip and pin: "Chip and pin is so effective in this country that fraudsters are starting to move their activities overseas.”