Merkinch woman in £4,000 bank fraud

A MERKINCH woman duped bank staff into transferring £4,000 of cash into her bank account by pretending she had authorised use of another woman’s account.

Caroline MacBean (41) of Maclennan Cresent, Inverness, admitted the fraud which saw money paid into her account from that of Barbara MacDonald, who has since died.

Inverness Sheriff Court was told on Tuesday she has repaid most of the balance into Barbara MacDonald’s estate, but that £710 is outstanding.

At an earlier hearing, MacBean admitted that between March 25 and May 11, 2009, at Maclennan Crescent and elsewhere, she pretended to employees of Lloyds TSB, at its head office in London, that she had authorised use of an internet bank account in the name of Barbara MacDonald, when she knew the account had been opened without the victim’s knowledge and authority, which induced Lloyds TSB staff to transfer money from the account into her own bank account, leading her to obtain £4,000 by fraud.

Sentencing her to 140 hours community service, Sheriff Ian Abercrombie described it as a serious offence that could have seen her imprisoned, but that he was bearing in mind her remorse and that much of the cash had been reimbursed.