A bank card fraudster was pinned to the ground by a shop owner in a dramatic citizen’s arrest.

Marvin Xavier, 32, of Lower Addiscombe Road, Croydon, was handed a community order after pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation for attempting to buy two mobile phones costing £320 with a fake card.

Get Paid owner Raman Sunmonu first became suspicious when Xavier asked for a discount on a phone costing £59.99 but was seemingly happy to pay £270 for a BlackBerry phone.

The 24-year-old raised the alarm after he compared Xavier’s card with his own from the same bank behind the counter of his Orpington High Street shop.

He said: "I thought it was an amazing copy but there were certain things that just weren’t correct.

"I did take it personally because this guy was trying to take money off me."

The quick-witted shop owner shouted for someone to call the police which prompted Xavier to flee the shop.

However, the cheat tripped on the pavement before Mr Sunmonu stunned shoppers by pinning the fraudster to the floor using a mixed martial arts move known as an armbar.

This move involves placing your legs across the defendant’s chest, with one of his arms between your thighs and with the elbow joint against your hips.

Mr Sunmonu says police eventually arrived after he waited 15 minutes with Xavier in a nearby McDonald’s restaurant.

He said: "I approached several border police in Orpington High Street but they said they could not do anything even though they had hand cuffs and five cars.

"I thought, ‘why am I the guy to arrest him?’.

"That was just as frustrating as the guy using a fake card in my shop - the fact I spent so much time trying to persuade the border patrol to call the police."

Mr Sunmonu says if Xavier had been successful the electronics store, which only opened in August, would have struggled to survive.

He said: "It would have been really bad because these are my life savings I have invested into this shop."

Despite the heroic actions of Mr Sunmonu, the Met still advises the public to leave arrests to the experts.

A police spokesman said: "We understand situations like this do arise but we still advise members of the public to always call 999 in incidents of an emergency."

Xavier was sentenced to an 80-hour community order at Bromley Magistrates Court on October 1 and is also required to pay £85 court costs.