Trim District Court has been told of a woman who fell for a scam that promised a €200,000 return for an investment of €10,000. Emmanuel Oweibe, with an address at Bothargas, Louth Village, Co Louth appeared in court charged with the offence of defrauding the woman. The court was told that the woman got a message through Facebook in relation to a Covid payment. She was promised €200,000 for a €10,000 investment. She took up the offer and she paid a €2,000 deposit which was extracted from her bank account.
Defending barrister James O’Brien said the defendant had no previous convictions and he had a number of letters of apology in court along with the €2,000 compensation. The money was paid into his account and then passed into one of a number of other accounts. Judge Eirinn McKiernan asked “Did he go to school?” She was told that he did and she replied “Well, cut the crap. I wonder how the lady feels about all this. This is happening far too often and it’s terrible for the victims.” Besides paying the €2,000 compensation she directed defendant to pay €1,000 to charity and put the case back to 11 th April.
