An Irish couple who had been buying a home in Co Meath to retire to from Belgium had €177,000 of their money stolen in a phishing scam, a court has heard.
Mark Farley (42) who allowed his bank account to be used in the fraud, was on Wednesday given a fully-suspended sentence of three years.
Farley, of Belgard Road, Tallaght, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to handling the proceeds of criminal conduct on dates between December 8th, 2020 and December 18th, 2020. He has 16 previous convictions including for traffic offences, public order and criminal damage.
Judge Martin Nolan said Farley had “run up a debt” and that third parties had taken advantage of their hold over him, but he added: “his own activities put himself under the sway of these people”.
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“He gave these bank details and he must have known they were going to use them for illicit purposes. Thankfully, the authorities got wind of it in time and they were not at a loss,” Judge Nolan said.
After adjourning overnight to consider the case, Judge Nolan said Farley had been reckless in allowing this situation to occur. However, the judge conceded that Farley had a low level of culpability and “did not know what the main movers in this criminal scheme were going to do”.
Detective Garda Eimhear Keeshan told Simon Matthews BL, prosecuting, that the Irish couple had begun the process of moving back to Ireland for their retirement and had secured a solicitor to deal with the purchase of a house in Athboy, Co Meath.
The solicitor’s email account was hacked and the couple were directed to lodge the funds of €177,000 into a Bank of Ireland account which was held in Farley’s name.
Det Garda Keeshan confirmed that the solicitor’s email address had been hacked by way of a phishing link. False domain names were set up and an email address was purchased in the Ukraine. The address differed from the solicitor’s email address by one additional letter.
The woman reported the incident to the Belgium police who contacted the Garda. Bank of Ireland also raised concerns to gardaí after they noted the funds were transferred to Farley’s account.
Det Garda Keeshan confirmed that Farley’s bank account was frozen and although €15,000 had been transferred out of the account to another beneficiary, all funds were returned to the couple within 16 days.
Det Gda Keeshan took over the investigation in May 2021 and Farley was arrested the following February.
He told gardaí he had suffered an injury to his neck, during his work as an electrician and began taking OxyContin for pain. This led him to start using heroin. His relationship broke down and he ran up a drug debt.
Farley told gardaí that his apartment was effectively taken over and used as “a drug den”.
He initially said that these people had access to everything in his home but then ultimately admitted that he had handed over his bank details to them.
Det Garda Keeshan said the bank account had not been used by Farley for some time but he had access and control of it. It had been used by him for his electrician business.
Two beneficiaries had been added to his bank account the day before the money was stolen from the couple but Farley claimed he didn’t know who these people were. No further names were provided to gardaí.
A victim impact statement was prepared for the case but not read aloud in court.
Det Garda Keeshan agreed with James Dwyer SC, defending, that his client said he had been intimidated by these people to allow his bank account to be used. She accepted that Farley was at the lowest level but emphasised that his role was still necessary for the crime to be committed.
She further accepted that Farley was not due to get any of the funds that had been lodged to his account.
Mr Dwyer said that Farley started using drugs as a 12-year-old and left school after his Junior Certificate. He managed to put his drug habit behind him and later set up his own electrician business but relapsed into drug use following an injury at work.
Counsel submitted that his client was a “necessary player” and added that he was “always going to be caught”.
Mr Dwyer acknowledged that it would have been enormously stressful for the couple involved. He said his client had “hit rock bottom” at the time but has demonstrated previously a “capacity to rehabilitate”.
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