Man 'duped' into taking part in phishing scam has case struck out in Waterford
Waterford Courthouse
A man who was “duped” into allowing his Revolut account to be used in a €2.47 million phishing scam has had his case struck out at Waterford District Court.
Robbie Harrington (21), of Corluddys Cottage, Carrigeen, Mooncoin, Co. Kilkenny, had pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering in April 2023 at a sitting of Waterford District Court in June.
Judge John Cheatle had put the matter back six months, to give the defendant a chance not to come to anymore negative garda attention.
He said that if that was the case in December, he would strike out the matter and a conviction would not be recorded.
At the December sitting, the court was told that Finnish authorities have confirmed that substantial compensation has been paid to the two victims.
Judge Cheatle struck out the matter.
In June, the court heard that the two Finnish victims had €9,900 and €4,096 taken, which was funneled through the defendant’s account.
An international investigation was launched by Interpol with support from An Garda Síochána, and the money was traced to a cryptocurrency wallet valued at €2.47 million.
Acting for the defendant, solicitor Hilary Delahunty told the court that these cases are very common and in most cases, banks compensate the victims.
However, that was not the case here, and the defendant and his family raised the money.
The solicitor also said that Mr Harrington had been “duped” into allowing his account to be used, but was not the “mastermind” of the scam.
That explanation was supported by the investigating garda.
Judge Cheatle accepted the defendant’s version of events and said he would give him a chance to avoid a conviction.
