How two Mayo victims were defrauded of €6.9k in scam revealed in court

A Mayo court has heard how two men separately allowed criminals to use their bank accounts to defraud Mayo women of €6,993.

Jake Anderson, aged 21, of Decies Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10, appeared before a sitting of Ballina District Court.

In November 2023, it was reported to gardaí that an Erris woman had money stolen from her PTSB account.

There were two fraudulent transactions totalling €1,398.

The woman told gardaí that on November 3, 2023, she received a phone call from a private number.

A man speaking in a South Dublin accent told her he worked for her bank and told her that there were two suspicious transactions on her account and that the bank would send her a six digit code to confirm she was the account holder and to read it back to him.

The man then told her he could cancel the transactions as they were still pending.

Almost immediately after the phone call she received a message from her bank notifying her of two transactions from her account into a Revolut account.

The bank told her she had been the victim of a scam.

The woman was not aware that the six digit code gave fraudsters access to her Google Play account.

The Mayo woman was reimbursed by her bank.

Investigations traced the Revolut account to Anderson.

Giving evidence in court, Anderson said he was paid €200 by a ‘friend of a friend’ for the use of the account.

He denied being the person with the South Dublin accent who made the phone call to the victim.

The investigating garda was not present in court and Judge Sandra Murphy said she required more details on the defendant’s culpability.

She said young people can be completely duped into this kind of activity but she required more information on the man.

“Some people are very naïve, others are not so naïve,” the judge remarked.

Solicitor Mr. Peter Loftus said there was “nothing sinister” in his client’s actions. He said Anderson had €1,400 in court in order to compensate the bank.

The judge also sought a victim impact statement and a probation report. The case was adjourned until March 13 next.

The same court heard that another man, Pierce McCarthy, John’s Lane, Waterford, needed money for Rag Week when he was alleged to have allowed his bank account to be used by fraudsters who targeted a Mayo woman.

The court was told that on February 14, 2022, it was reported to gardaí that a Kiltimagh woman had been scammed out of €5,600.

On February 2, 2022, the woman was contacted by a person claiming to be from Amazon. They requested her to download an app. She did so but deleted it when she became suspicious.

She was later contacted by PTSB who informed the woman that €5,600 had been removed from her bank account. The lady was refunded by the bank.

The court heard that investigations linked the transfer of the money to a Revolut account held by the accused. It is alleged that he allowed this account to be used by other parties.

McCarthy had been approached by a classmate at the then Waterford Institute of Technology who offered him €200 for the use of the account. The court was told that Rag Week was approaching and McCarthy needed the cash.

Judge Sandra Murphy accepted jurisdiction in the case.

* Published under the Courts Reporting Scheme.