Judge Kelly
A 23-year-old Co Donegal woman has been fined after pleading guilty to running an online scam.
Geraldine Stokes, whose address was given in court as 9, The Forest, Ballymacool, Letterkenny, pretended to be a legitimate seller of an iPhone on the website done deal.ie.
But Letterkenny District Court heard it was all a scam – and she swindled a Galway man out of €230.
A detective told the court that in November 2010 Stokes had pretended to have an iPhone for sale for €330.
Her victim agreed to lodge €230 into Stokes’ account at the AIB in Letterkenny as part payment.
“He never received his phone and in fact the phone probably didn’t exist. The victim made a complaint to Gardai in Galway and we followed it up,” said the detective.
The court heard that the 23-year-old mother of two had since paid €250 compensation to her victim.
Judge Paul Kelly was also told about another crime – a breach of the peace – when Ms Stokes was involved in a fight on Letterkenny’s Main Street.
“I am concerned that the theft was planned over a period of time and shows some malice of forethought,” said the judge of the done deal.ie scam.
However he also heard these were Stokes’s first offences.
He fined her €150 for the iPhone con trick and applied the probation act for the breach of the peace.