€25k spending spree

weldoninhio · 26-01-2017 8:58pm #1

Just reading about the girl who had €51k lodged to her account in error and decided to go on a spending spree and spent €25k of it within 9 days in Dunnes, Tesco, Centra, Heatons, Lifestyle, New Look and Shoe Rack.

She arrived into court with a sob story about never having disposable income before and never being able to buy presents for her family and that "Any young girl on social welfare like me would have done what I did". She conveniently claims that she "frittered" the money away and now has nothing to show for it.

The judge has adjourned it to April and asked for an assessment to see if she is suitable for Community Service. The real kicker was that when asked about repaying it, she said she was on Lone Parents and only got €250 a week, so could only afford to pay back €10-€20 out of this (I presume it's per week).

I think the book should be thrown at her. She's stolen money that she knew wasn't hers, has no remorse and had no intention of paying it back. There has to be consequences to your actions if you break the law.

pudzey101 · 26-01-2017 9:01pm

i think 99% of us would blow €51k on hookers and coke if it happend us

gercoral · 26-01-2017 9:02pm

I don't understand how people don't have morals.
I;ll get off me high horse in a minute but if I found money on the street, I put it into the nearest charity box or buskers box.
I just don't feel right taking it. I'm quite happy with my lot, and it's not much.

colm_mcm · 26-01-2017 9:03pm

pudzey101 wrote: »

i think 99% of us would blow €51k on hookers and coke if it happend us

Good luck to them getting that back!

Butters1979 · 26-01-2017 9:12pm

The self entitled, money for nothing types are plentiful in this country. Knackers are knackers. And she did in her hoop spend that in tesco's and spar. Drugs and big screen tv's

weldoninhio · 26-01-2017 9:12pm

gercoral wrote: »

I don't understand how people don't have morals.
I;ll get off me high horse in a minute but if I found money on the street, I put it into the nearest charity box or buskers box.
I just don't feel right taking it. I'm quite happy with my lot, and it's not much.

It's the whole "so what" attitude that annoys me. I'm on lone parent so can only pay €10 a week. How about getting a fcuking job to pay it back??

pavb2 · 26-01-2017 9:16pm

gercoral wrote: »

I just don't feel right taking it.

Same . . I would just live in fear of being karmacally retributed for taking it

retalivity · 26-01-2017 9:18pm

Butters1979 wrote: »

The self entitled, money for nothing types are plentiful in this country. Knackers are knackers. And she did in her hoop spend that in tesco's and spar. Drugs and big screen tv's

3 grand on '2 crystal vases'!
Is that what the kids are calling it these days??

DEFTLEFTHAND · 26-01-2017 9:21pm

What a blithering idiot.

dresden8 · 26-01-2017 9:21pm

Butters1979 wrote: »

The self entitled, money for nothing types are plentiful in this country. Knackers are knackers. And she did in her hoop spend that in tesco's and spar. Drugs and big screen tv's

The biggest knackers are "respectable" types who wear very expensive suits.

25k? 'Tis nothing.

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/willie-mcateer-sentenced-for-fraudulent-anglo-loan-but-gets-no-extra-prison-time-773675.html

€7.2 BILLION and €8 MILLION

BorneTobyWilde · 26-01-2017 9:22pm

gercoral wrote: »

I don't understand how people don't have morals.
I;ll get off me high horse in a minute but if I found money on the street, I put it into the nearest charity box or buskers box.
I just don't feel right taking it. I'm quite happy with my lot, and it's not much.

Poor person who lost it would have no hope with that attitude .
Geez, how cruel are you .

Sprog 4 · 26-01-2017 9:22pm

weldoninhio wrote: »

Dunnes, Tesco, Centra, Heatons, Lifestyle, New Look and Shoe Rack.

judeboy101 · 26-01-2017 9:25pm

pudzey101 wrote: »

i think 99% of us would blow €51k on hookers and coke if it happend us

I'm a 7-UP man myself

learn_more · 26-01-2017 9:30pm

As far as I'm concerned it's the banks fault and they should be fully liable for any lost money. Couldn't care less about the morals of the woman who spent the money. Banks we're talking about here. Banks. Properly upstanding moral institutions. Give me a break with all the righteousness here. Complete waste of time of a court case. Bank should be fined for incompetence.

longshanks · 26-01-2017 9:33pm

judeboy101 wrote: »

I'm a 7-UP man myself

So 8 hookers then. You'll have that money gone in no time.

Berserker · 26-01-2017 10:04pm

weldoninhio wrote: »

Just reading about the girl who had €51k lodged to her account in error and decided to go on a spending spree and spent €25k of it within 9 days in Dunnes, Tesco, Centra, Heatons, Lifestyle, New Look and Shoe Rack.

Wonder what she bought that cost €25K in those stores.

weldoninhio · 26-01-2017 10:05pm

learn_more wrote: »

As far as I'm concerned it's the banks fault and they should be fully liable for any lost money. Couldn't care less about the morals of the woman who spent the money. Banks we're talking about here. Banks. Properly upstanding moral institutions. Give me a break with all the righteousness here. Complete waste of time of a court case. Bank should be fined for incompetence.

That's nonsense. It was an honest mistake by 1 frontline member of staff. The girl who's account it went into knew it wasn't hers and tried to spend as much as possible, as quickly as possible.

If, god forbid, you miskeyed an account number and it went into someone else's account and they spent, would you just say fair enough it was my mistake??

26-01-2017 10:11pm

If I saw that happen, I'd tell the bank right away. You don't f*ck with a bank. They'll always win.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 26-01-2017 10:14pm

How do you fritter away 25k in 9 days in the places she mentioned.

What does she have to show for it?

andekwarhola · 26-01-2017 10:14pm

It's unbelievable that people actually believe you can just spend the money and somehow the bank won't find out and prosecute you.

colm_mcm · 26-01-2017 10:14pm

Deleted User wrote: »

If I saw that happen, I'd tell the bank right away. You don't f*ck with a bank. They'll always win.

Except in this case where they have feck all chance of the person giving the money back and even less chance of them having any assets to repossess, and even less chance again of the girl going to prison etc as she has a child. Id imagine she has a house sorted already so no need to worry about not getting a mortgage etc.

meeeeh · 26-01-2017 10:17pm

She is lucky. Couple of weeks/months ago someone went to prison for something similar.

andekwarhola · 26-01-2017 10:18pm

learn_more wrote: »

As far as I'm concerned it's the banks fault and they should be fully liable for any lost money. Couldn't care less about the morals of the woman who spent the money. Banks we're talking about here. Banks. Properly upstanding moral institutions. Give me a break with all the righteousness here. Complete waste of time of a court case. Bank should be fined for incompetence.

Presumably if 50k of your dosh got transferred into my account in error and I spent it, you'd give me a thumbs up and say
'At least you're not Denis O'Brien'?

Butters1979 · 26-01-2017 10:19pm

dresden8 wrote: »

The biggest knackers are "respectable" types who wear very expensive suits.

25k? 'Tis nothing.

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/willie-mcateer-sentenced-for-fraudulent-anglo-loan-but-gets-no-extra-prison-time-773675.html

€7.2 BILLION and €8 MILLION

No the biggest knackers are the knackers. This bankers are worse crap is bull.

alchemist33 · 26-01-2017 10:22pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

If I saw that happen, I'd tell the bank right away. You don't f*ck with a bank. They'll always win.

I'd give them the runaround for a few weeks, passing them from person to person in my Refunds Department, losing their documentation and asking them to re-submit it all with all of their original birth certificates and driving licences.

Butters1979 · 26-01-2017 10:24pm

learn_more wrote: »

As far as I'm concerned it's the banks fault and they should be fully liable for any lost money. Couldn't care less about the morals of the woman who spent the money. Banks we're talking about here. Banks. Properly upstanding moral institutions. Give me a break with all the righteousness here. Complete waste of time of a court case. Bank should be fined for incompetence.

No they shouldn't. If I dropped my wallet on the street it's my fault, but it's still not some knackers money. Finders-keepers is not a law.

The type of people who would assume to take this money are usually self entitled scroungers who never earned any themselves in the first place.

learn_more · 26-01-2017 10:24pm

weldoninhio wrote: »

That's nonsense. It was an honest mistake by 1 frontline member of staff. The girl who's account it went into knew it wasn't hers and tried to spend as much as possible, as quickly as possible.

If, god forbid, you miskeyed an account number and it went into someone else's account and they spent, would you just say fair enough it was my mistake??

If I did I wouldn't just think I was going to get it back easily. I would just hope I would and would blame myself if I didn't.

weldoninhio · 26-01-2017 10:29pm

learn_more wrote: »

If I did I wouldn't just think I was going to get it back easily. I would just hope I would and would blame myself if I didn't.

Of course you would. I reckon you'd be on here within an hour with a rant about how useless the bank was at getting your money back and the person who swiped it was a scummer.

TerrorFirmer · 26-01-2017 10:29pm

learn_more wrote: »

If I did I wouldn't just think I was going to get it back easily. I would just hope I would and would blame myself if I didn't.

Pull the other one. If you accidentally deposited 50k in the wrong persons account, they spent every penny of it and told you to **** off, you'd just say to yourself "Oh, my fault, lesson learned, oops!"

Butters1979 · 26-01-2017 10:59pm

learn_more wrote: »

If I did I wouldn't just think I was going to get it back easily. I would just hope I would and would blame myself if I didn't.

You'd be on here ranting about the evil bank that took your money. Rabble rabble.

Summer wind · 26-01-2017 11:10pm

This woman is a complete wagon. She should have to show receipts for everything she bought with the stolen money and get the biggest punishment the court can give her. But as we all know she won't because she will use her children as an excuse that she can't go to jail and the judge will take pity on her and she'll walk out of the court and laugh up his arse.

Del2005 · 26-01-2017 11:19pm

gercoral wrote: »

I don't understand how people don't have morals.
I;ll get off me high horse in a minute but if I found money on the street, I put it into the nearest charity box or buskers box.
I just don't feel right taking it. I'm quite happy with my lot, and it's not much.

That's the same as the person in the OP, theft. What you do is drop it into a Garda Station and then after 90 days, or whatever the limit is, the Gardaí will give you the money if it isn't claimed. Then you can give it to a charity or busker.

Winterlong · 27-01-2017 10:03am

Took all her friends and family out for meals every night for two weeks. And then ignored the bank trying to contact her.
She knew what she was doing was wrong. She should have to pay back every penny.
But agree with the above, why is she not looking for a job?

boardsuser1 · 27-01-2017 10:11am

Amazing how yer man that done something similar was jailed.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/teenager-jailed-after-20-000-mistakenly-lodged-into-account-1.2933483

A lack of convictions is no reason to avoid a jail sentence for such a large sum.

Sexism of the highest level.

Lone parent me arse, every child has a father.

And I know what i'm talking about, my ex is claiming the One Parent Family Payment even though I am actively in my child's life.

skankkuvhima · 27-01-2017 10:26am

KC161 wrote: »

Amazing how yer man that done something similar was jailed.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/teenager-jailed-after-20-000-mistakenly-lodged-into-account-1.2933483

A lack of convictions is no reason to avoid a jail sentence for such a large sum.

Sexism of the highest level.

Lone parent me arse, every child has a father.

And I know what i'm talking about, my ex is claiming the One Parent Family Payment even though I am actively in my child's life.

Oh ho, a few people here won't like that. Although you are 100% correct.

Estrellita · 27-01-2017 10:28am

“Any young girl on social welfare like me would have done what I did.”

No, they wouldn't dear.

skankkuvhima · 27-01-2017 10:29am

Estrellita wrote: »

No, they wouldn't dear.

Are ye going out together?

Estrellita · 27-01-2017 10:30am

skankkuvhima wrote: »

Are ye going out together?

What?

boardsuser1 · 27-01-2017 10:33am

skankkuvhima wrote: »

Oh ho, a few people here won't like that. Although you are 100% correct.

I've had the 'lone parent' card thrown at me in the past

I must stress though, I AM NOT HAVING A GO AT ANYONE.

But where is the consistency in the legal system?

jester77 · 27-01-2017 10:33am

Surprised this doesn't happen more often, IBANs are way too long and easy to get a digit wrong.

elefant · 27-01-2017 10:35am

Whenever a story like this is posted on facebook by the Independent or the Times there are streams of comments decrying 'But the bankers!!'.

How many years will pass before this line stops being trotted out? It's like the catch-all excuse for all sorts of abdication of financial responsibility.

boardsuser1 · 27-01-2017 10:36am

jester77 wrote: »

Surprised this doesn't happen more often, IBANs are way too long and easy to get a digit wrong.

Rarely if ever did this happen with the old sort code/account number system.

That SEPA thing is a load of cobblers.

Conall Cernach · 27-01-2017 10:36am

KC161 wrote: »

Amazing how yer man that done something similar was jailed.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/teenager-jailed-after-20-000-mistakenly-lodged-into-account-1.2933483

A lack of convictions is no reason to avoid a jail sentence for such a large sum.

Sexism of the highest level.

Lone parent me arse, every child has a father.

And I know what i'm talking about, my ex is claiming the One Parent Family Payment even though I am actively in my child's life.

If you're not living together, the child lives with her and you don't have joint custody then she is entitled to claim the One Parent Family Payment. It is means tested anyway so any money you are giving to support your child will be taken into account.

jca · 27-01-2017 10:36am

KC161 wrote: »

Amazing how yer man that done something similar was jailed.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/teenager-jailed-after-20-000-mistakenly-lodged-into-account-1.2933483

A lack of convictions is no reason to avoid a jail sentence for such a large sum.

Sexism of the highest level.

Lone parent me arse, every child has a father.

And I know what i'm talking about, my ex is claiming the One Parent Family Payment even though I am actively in my child's life.

A simple phone call would sort that, but, you'll have to pay her more money...

boardsuser1 · 27-01-2017 10:38am

jca wrote: »

A simple phone call would sort that, but, you'll have to pay her more money...

Paying money every week without fail.

Estrellita · 27-01-2017 10:39am

The article from the Irish Times.

A woman went on a massive spending spree after a bank accidentally deposited more than €51,000 into her account, a court has heard.

Margaret McDonnell (23) spent the money on items for her children, including bedclothes, clothes and shoes, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told on Wednesday.

For two weeks, Ms McDonnell ate out every night and bought gifts, including two crystal vases and a “crystal mushroom lamp”. She also brought family and friends out to dinner.

She spent a total of €24,946 from the accidental deposit. At Wednesday’s hearing, McDonnell, of Rathvilly Park, Finglas, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of theft of cash from Bank of Ireland on dates between March 7th and 16th, 2013.

Judge Cormac Quinn adjourned the case to April next and ordered a Probation Service report to assess Ms McDonnell’s suitability for community service. Det Karl Smith told the court that, in March 2013, a Bank of Ireland customer went into the bank’s Finglas branch to get details for his account to allow the transfer of €51,808 into it from a foreign bank account.

He was given an IBAN number, but when the money did not show up later in his account he contacted the bank again. It was then discovered he had been given the details for Ms McDonnell’s account instead of his own.

The €51,808 had dropped into her account on March 6th. The following day, Ms McDonnell withdrew €5,000 from her account. Over the next nine days, she spent large amounts in Dunnes, Tesco, Heatons, Centra, Lifestyle Sports, Shoe Rack and New Look.

On discovering its mistake, the bank took back the €26,862 remaining from the original deposit. They also wrote to Ms McDonnell asking her to repay the rest of the money, but she ignored the letter. After her arrest, Ms McDonnell accepted full responsibility for spending the money.

She told gardaí that she had thought the money was hers as it was in her bank account. "I just went on a high. It was such a lot of money. It was in my account so as far as I was concerned it was mine,” she said. She said she spent the money “on everything and anything, stupid things”.

Asked if she was bothered by the fact she had stolen the money, she told gardaí: “If only you knew me, you would know I was bothered by this. “Any young girl on social welfare like me would have done what I did.” She said she ignored the letter from the bank because she was scared and had realised she had done something wrong.

Oisín Clarke BL, defending, said that his client had never had disposable income to spend before and had never been able to buy gifts for friends or family. He said Ms McDonnell had never been in trouble before and had always tried to live her life in an upright fashion.

Mr Smith said it was highly unlikely Ms McDonnell would re-offend. He said that she could not believe how stupid she had been. He said she had “flittered the money away” and had nothing to show for it.

Mr Clarke said Ms McDonnell was in receipt of €250-a-week in lone-parent allowance and could only afford to use €10 or €20 out of this to repay the stolen money.

boardsuser1 · 27-01-2017 10:41am

Conall Cernach wrote: »

If you're not living together, the child lives with her and you don't have joint custody then she is entitled to claim the One Parent Family Payment. It is means tested anyway so any money you are giving to support your child will be taken into account.

Even when I was with her she was doing it. I think you get where this is going.

She's blocking joint custody because of the money she'll lose and will have to look for a job (her words,not mine) plus her youngest child is soon to hit the 7 (not my child, a different one)

You know what I mean anyway, don't want to go off topic.

timmy880 · 27-01-2017 10:41am

Lads the bankers screwing the country out of billions doesn't make every other theft correct.... So can that stop being used as an argument in cases like this?

She knew what she was doing, ignored the letter when she got caught and tried to spend it all as quickly as possible. Now is claiming that she is on social welfare and can't pay it back? Complete bs.

weldoninhio · 27-01-2017 10:43am

KC161 wrote: »

Rarely if ever did this happen with the old sort code/account number system.

That SEPA thing is a load of cobblers.

It often happened. And when it happens now it's down to a digit in the sort code or bank account being wrong or miskeyed.

An IBAN is made up of the following:

IE26 (country code) AIBK (Bank Code) 931234 (sort code) and 12345678 (account number).

If you get the country or bank code wrong it won't go anywhere, so it's always a mistake on the sort or account number.

ted1 · 27-01-2017 10:45am

weldoninhio wrote: »

It's the whole "so what" attitude that annoys me. I'm on lone parent so can only pay €10 a week. How about getting a fcuking job to pay it back??

Other than that what gets me, is that she decided to blow it. Surly someone with limited means should make it last , give herself an extra 100 euro a week. That's a better standard of living for ten years.

Commotion Ocean · 27-01-2017 10:45am

Didn't a similar thing happen to an 18 or 19 year old chap and he went to jail only recently?

€25k spending spree

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