Two post-graduate students who carried out a scam selling "clocked" cars have been ordered to pay back almost £18,000.

Zubair Ansari and Sharif Uddin made more than £38,000 from the scam which duped unsuspecting buyers.

At Leicester Crown Court last week, Uddin was ordered to pay £14,235 and Ansari must give back £3,735 within three months or face serving further time in prison.

Almost £5,500 of this money will be paid to the victims as compensation.

The pair bought high-mileage vehicles from auctions and altered the odometers to show a lower mileage.

They then advertised and sold the cars at a higher price, along with forged MOT certificates and bogus service histories.

In some cases, the mileage had been reduced by half.

Vehicles were advertised and sold through Auto Trader and on the eBay website.

During searches of their homes in summer 2008, trading standards seized false and blank manufacturers' service history records, MOT certificates and a specialist mileage correction device.

David Bull, head of Leicestershire Trading Standards, said: "Trading Standards will always look to use proceeds of crime legislation to take the profit out of serious crime.

"We have done this in this case and it means the victims will receive compensation."

Ansari (33) was convicted of a conspiracy to carry on a business for fraudulent purposes between August 2007 and August 2008.

Uddin (33), who admitted the same conspiracy charge, was jailed for 12 months. He also admitted supplying goods with a false trades description and engaging in unfair commercial practice.

The two men, both Loughborough University PhD students and each married with a child, face being deported to India at the end of their sentences.

During the court case prosecutors said it was believed the pair had bought 40 cars at auctions.

The case involved the sale of seven vehicles, worth a total of £38,000.

Passing sentence at January's hearing, Judge Simon Hammond said: "It was a carefully worked out scam, made more serious because these two men are highly educated graduates who have used their skill and intelligence to set up this fraud.

"The public are entitled to rely on the mileage of cars, but these customers were cheated."

If you believe that you have purchased a "clocked" car, report it to trading standards via Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.