'I will, yeah' — Young Corkman tells judge he will continue with probation
The court heard that customers of AIB were being sent text messages with a website link in the text. The customer would click on the link and be brought to what appeared to be the AIB website and asked to sign in....thus inadvertently giving over control of their accounts to unknown persons. File photo: Sion Touhig/Getty Images
A District Court Judge reminded a young man who sounded reluctant to continue under the direction of the probation service that in Cork saying “I will, yeah” often meant the opposite.
21-year-old Ange Munene of Castlepark, Ballincollig, County Cork, faced sentencing on Thursday for money-laundering. His solicitor, Michael Quinlan, said it was a largely favourable probation report.
Judge Mary Dorgan suggested that the young man could benefit from further engagement with the probation service. “Will you do that?” the judge asked the accused. He replied: “I suppose so.”
The judge told him he would have to do better than that in terms of commitment. She asked him again if he would engage with probation and this time he replied: “I will, yeah.” Judge Dorgan said: “You know in Cork that means no.”
Mr Quinlan said the defendant would engage with probation and the young man himself said that he would do so. Sentencing was adjourned until September 12 for that purpose.
The accused admitted being paid €100 for almost €10,000 to land in his account — a money-laundering offence whereby he allowed his account to have criminally acquired money transferred to him by a person unknown.
Sergeant Gearóid Davis said: “In April 2021 the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau began investigating reports of ‘smishing’ fraud offences reported by AIB.
“Customers of AIB were being sent text messages with a website link in the text. The customer would click on the link and be brought to what appeared to be the AIB website and asked to sign in.
“The AIB customer provided their online banking login information thus inadvertently giving over control of their accounts to unknown persons.
“These unknown persons then made unauthorised transfers of money from the AIB customer’s accounts to other bank accounts.
“These other accounts are known as money muling accounts. The fraudsters get young people to let them use their accounts for €50 of €100 payments. One such young person who allowed his account to be used in this way by fraudsters is Ange Munene.
“On January 12, 2021, two separate lodgements of €50 were made to his account through an ATM on the Naas Road in Dublin.
“The following day, three further lodgements were made, for €4,100, €4,500 and €1.200, totalling €9,800.
“AIB was able to freeze his account so the money could not be moved or withdrawn from the account and conducted a reverse deposit which returned the full amount of €9,800 to the rightful owner.”
The defendant was 19 at the time and wrongly saw it as ‘easy money’ to get €50 of €100 for someone else to use their account for a short period.
