Longford man charged with involvement in €5,000 text scam
Judge to decide on jurisdiction
A man involved in an alleged text scam, which left the injured party almost €5,000 out of pocket, is due to reappear at Longford District Court in June.
Paul Idahor (20), with an address at 71 Grian Ard, Ardnacassa, Longford, appeared before Judge Bernadette Owens last Tuesday.
The court heard from Sergeant Enda Daly, for the state, that on February 9, 2023, Gardaí received a complaint from an injured party in Ennis, who had received a text message with what looked like a Credit Union link.
After clicking the link, the injured party received a genuine text from the Credit Union saying €4,988 had been removed from their account.
Investigations carried out by Gardaí found the money had been sent to an account registered to the defendant and found a number of irregular transactions in his Post Office account between February 9, 2023, and February 12, 2023.
Mr Idahor was arrested on November 3, 2023, but made no admissions.
Judge Owens said she would be unable to decide whether or not to accept jurisdiction until she had “more information on what the state alleges is the defendant's role in the commission of these offences”.
“Was he involved in sending the text?” she asked.
The case was put back to June 18, 2024, to allow time for Gardaí to gather the requested information.