A WOMAN caught up in an international money scam may have to pay back more than $20,000 to the victims, despite claims she didn’t benefit from the con.
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Debra Anne Mitchell, 63, says she thought the $21,362 deposited in her Commonwealth Bank account was from her boyfriend in China.
The cash, she said, was to be transferred to the soldier to get him back home to Australia, as he couldn’t access his bank account overseas.
But the money was actually transferred into her account through a semi-sophisticated scam that involved emails being intercepted and details changed.
Two victims had sent out invoices on email, one for grain bins worth $16,500 and another for water tanks worth $4862.
But an unknown person took the invoices, changed them so the Eastern Circuit woman’s name was on them, before forwarding them on to the intended recipients.
They paid the cash, thinking it was going into the right accounts.
The money was actually paid into Mitchell’s account and she withdraw it as cash from ATMs in central Albury, before sending it overseas through Western Union transfers.
Police said $9090 was unaccounted for, but the 63-year-old told Albury Local Court this week that she hadn’t kept any of the money or benefited.
Magistrate Rodney Brender said she would be hit with a $20,000 compensation order from the two victims.
The court heard that even if she didn’t make money out of the scam, she helped another person benefit.
She was seen on security footage taking out the cash, before heading to the post office in Dean Street and making multiple international transfers.
Mitchell was asked, under oath, if she had kept any money.
She replied “no”.
The cash was sent to different people in different countries, the 63-year-old told the court.
While concerns were raised about the record-keeping practices of Western Union, Mr Brender said the transfers should be able to be traced if the right subpoenas were sought.
Western Union should have some sort of records for the transfers, he said.
Mitchell had already given police receipts showing $12,403 in transfers, leaving a $9090 shortfall.
The matter was adjourned to June 28 for sentence while further enquiries are made.
