Woman who allowed her bank account be used to launder money given suspended sentence

An email sent by a company was intercepted, and the company then wrongly transferred €1,600 into Blessing Nkosi’s bank account.

Judge Miriam Walsh fined Nkosi €500 and imposed a three-month sentence, suspended for 12 months.

The 21-year-old defendant, with an address at Market Green in Balbriggan, admitted transferring, handling or possessing €1,648, which was the proceeds of crime.

The incident took place at AIB, Harry Reynolds Road in Balbriggan, on April 8, 2020.

Garda Paul Cullen told Swords District Court that the victim provided a statement saying an email had been intercepted and they had sent money to the wrong bank account.

Gda Cullen said he obtained a warrant, and the bank account belonged to the defendant.

Nkosi’s defence lawyer said his client had given her bank card to another individual and she knew it was going to be used for illegal means.

However, she did not know that an email would be intercepted, nor was she aware of the extent of the fraud.

The lawyer said Nkosi went to the bank when her account was frozen, and she was unaware of the amount of money going through her account.

Nkosi was also very scared and she did not want to get anyone into trouble.

This was a very stupid mistake on the defendant’s part, added the lawyer, asking the judge to be as lenient as possible.