A woman who admitted laundering over €170,000 through her bank account has been given a fully-suspended sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Caitriona Shaw (42) of Whitestown Way, Tallaght, Dublin 24, pleaded guilty to two counts of invoice redirect fraud in March 2020 targeting genuine companies, after her account was used by others higher up the criminal chain of command for the illegal transfer of funds.
Handing Shaw a fully-suspended three-year sentence, Judge Pauline Codd described Shaw as a “mere money mule” and said she was typical of the persons targeted by those higher up the chain of command to facilitate their enrichment.
Judge Codd set a headline sentence of five years, but accepted that Shaw had been in very difficult domestic and medical circumstances at the time and had gained “little or nothing” from the offence.
The court heard that most of the money was recovered after Bank of Ireland froze Shaw’s account, but that Circle K remains at a loss of over €18,000.
Garda Richard Morrisson told Kieran Kelly BL, for the State, that the offences involved companies who received genuine invoices from contractors, but then received a second, bogus email purporting to be from the contractors, saying their bank details had been changed.
The court heard that on March 31st, 2020, Bank of Ireland became aware of a sum of €145,804 transferred to Shaw’s account by Cembrit Ireland, a building and construction materials firm.
Bogus email
Bank officials realised that Cembrit had been duped by a bogus email and froze Shaw’s account.
It was then discovered that an unrelated sum of €26,104 had arrived in Shaw’s account some days earlier on March 27th, 2020 from Circle K.
The court heard that Circle K had received an authentic invoice from an electrical contracting company in Co Clare, but then got a bogus email saying their bank details had changed.
A number of bank transfers and Revolut transactions had already taken place, but Bank of Ireland managed to recover some €7,000, leaving Circle K at a loss of €18,180.
Shaw has no previous convictions and has not come to adverse Garda attention before or since this offence, the court heard.
Garda Morrisson agreed with James Dwyer SC, defending, that Shaw had cooperated with gardaí and attended a Garda station by appointment.
The prosecuting Garda further agreed that activity on Shaw’s account previously had been “fairly modest,” detailing payments she received from the Department of Social Welfare and noting that her balance when last checked was €55.
Mr Dwyer said Shaw was in a particularly vulnerable condition at the time of the offending and was living in a women’s shelter, having moved out her family home away from her husband, who has since died.
She was taking medication for anxiety and depression, the court heard, when she was approached by an acquaintance of her son’s and asked to surrender control of her bank account.
There was no evidence to suggest Shaw had any knowledge that her bank account was being used for this form of sophisticated theft, the court heard.
“Her involvement was at the lowest level; she was always going to be caught,” counsel said.
Judge Codd said Shaw had chosen to involve herself in this type of transaction “through her own recklessness” and noted that she had not made any effort to repay any of the money lost.
The judge imposed a three-year sentence but suspended it in full for three years.
