Banks are sometimes extremely lax in the way they hand out money, a judge at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court said yesterday. He was commenting during a case concerning a woman who defrauded banks of almost £34,000 on behalf of a criminal gang.
Vera Lynch (30), a mother of five, from Rossfield Crescent, Tallaght, was remanded on bail for sentence next June.
Lynch was a "sad, dispirited, vulnerable person" who was exploited by a very dangerous gang, the court was told.
Judge Cyril Kelly noted that the gang had access to very detailed information about various companies' bank accounts. A garda witness said he would not rule out the involvement of bank or An Post staff in some cases, but added that criminals could sometimes simply remove mail from a firm's post box.
Lynch pleaded guilty to obtaining £33,900 by false pretences and to attempting to obtain £17,200 with forged documents in 1995 and 1996. Judge Kelly noted that in many instances the banks were extremely lax in the way money was handed out. After a phone call was made to a bank purporting to come from a director or manager of a company, Ms Lynch would call to the bank with documentation for sums from £3,000 to almost £9,000. None of the almost £34,000 she obtained was recovered.
Judge Kelly was told Lynch got perhaps £200 for each successful offence.