Money mule’ spared jail after allowing bank account to be used in scam

By Declan Brennan

A “hard working” painter-decorator has received a fully suspended prison sentence for “recklessly” allowing his bank account to be used as part of a text message scam.

Garda Conor Cleere told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that in November 2021 a woman in Kilkenny received a text message purporting to be from her bank, Bank of Ireland.

The text asserted that the bank had frozen her bank account after identifying suspicious activity and invited her to click on a link to reactivate the account.

The victim clicked on the link and the next day a genuine member of the bank’s fraud investigation unit called her and told her €5,000 had been moved out of her bank account without her permission.

Patrick McCullough BL, prosecuting, told the court that the victim had fallen prey to what was commonly known as “smishing” fraud.

The victim reported the crime to Kilkenny garda station and an investigation showed the funds had been moved into a bank account in the name of the defendant, Jamie Wright (25).

Another transfer of €5,000 was also made into the same account on the same day.

These funds were taken from a Dublin based victim who also fell prey to a fraudulent text message.

Garda Cleere told Mr McCullough that in the days following the thefts, €9,857 was spent at two shops using the defendant’s debit card.

A laptop and two iPhones were purchased at an electronics shop and a number of gift cards were bought in store at Brown Thomas.

In March 2025, Wright, who has an address at Virginia Park, Finglas, presented himself at Finglas garda station and told them he had lost his debit card at the time of the thefts.

Mark McMahon BL, defending, told the court that his client now accepts he had given his debit card to “a friend of a friend” and that he had no access to the stolen funds.

Wright told gardai that he had no knowledge of the money coming into the account or the subsequent purchases made with those funds.

Mr McCullough told Judge Cephas Power that the State accepted Wright was pleading guilty to two counts of money laundering on the basis that he acted recklessly in giving others access to his bank account and card.

Counsel said “the card would have been provided to somebody else to use the account and that he (Wright) would have been prevailed on”.

Gda Cleere accepted a submission from defending counsel that Wright was used by others as a “money mule” and he was not “the brains behind the operation”.

Gda Cleere said Wright has no other criminal convictions and has not come to garda attention since these offences.

Mr McMahon said his client was working in a McDonalds restaurant at the time of the offending and now works as a painter and decorator.

Wright’s employer was in court and provided a character reference describing him as hard working, trustworthy and of good character.

Judge Power said that there were exceptional circumstances in the case which allowed him to impose a fully suspended sentence.

These included Wright’s early guilty pleas, his otherwise good character and the fact that he is a hardworking man supporting himself and his young family.

Judge Power suspended a two-year prison term for three years on condition that Wright keep the peace and be of good behaviour.