Woman's bank account was used as part of a smishing scam, Dundalk court heard

A woman (26) whose account was used as part of a smishing scam has been sentenced at Dundalk Circuit Court to 160 hours community service in lieu of a 16 month sentence.

Fiona Preda now with an address at Oldbridge, Dundalk and formerly of Clann Chulainn Park, Farndreg, Dundalk pleaded guilty to a money laundering offence arising out of the incident on September 23rd 2021.

The court had previously heard that victim of the scam, who had a current and savings account with the Bank of Ireland had received a text message purporting to be from the bank about suspicious activity on his account, which said if it was not him to click on the link provided.

The connection was slow and he was asked for the code for his account which he provided and he subsequently received a call from Bank of Ireland saying his account which had €18,000 had been cleared out.

He made a complaint in person at a garda station within an hour and the following Monday was refunded in full by the bank, which was able to freeze some of the sums that were being transferred into other Revolut accounts but it was ultimately at a loss of €3,140.

The defendant had no previous convictions.

The Defence barrister stressed that his client's guilty plea was accepted on the basis that she was reckless rather than knowing that the money was the proceeds of criminal conduct.

He added she was pregnant when she was charged in February last year, but the baby was later still born.

The lawyer said his client, who was 21 at the time, at some stage had referred to a man taking over her account, had not come to further garda attention and had €1,000 by way of restitution.

He added that he had instructions that Ms Preda had been asked by a friend for her bank card to put money into the account for Christmas, and reiterated that she had not made any money from what occurred and she had become involved in something she should not have been involved in.

The court heard the defendant has lived in Dundalk for the last seven years after her family moved from Blanchardstown and now resides in what she describes as emergency accommodation.

She is the main carer for her son, is pursuing a nine month IT course, and has attended a psychotherapist for the loss of her baby and as a result of the case and other personal matters.

The case was adjourned in January for a community assessment report and last Friday after noting the obligations involved had been clearly explained to the defendant and she was in a position to complete them in a timely fashion, Judge Dara Hayes imposed 160 hours community service to be completed over the next 18 months.