Footballer’s account used for €2,400 eFlow scam, court told

Tom Tuite

A footballer and personal trainer let a "friend" use his bank account to lodge more than €2,400 from a motorway toll scam, a court has heard.

The victim of the scam received text messages pretending to be from toll operator eFlow, demanding payments or her account would be frozen.

It left the woman with money problems at a difficult time in her life, and "she had to seek financial aid", Dublin District Court was told.

Josh Stapleton (20), of Elder Heath Close, Kiltipper, Dublin 24, pleaded guilty to a theft charge after letting a friend use his bank account "as a favour".

Judge Shalom Binchy heard that on April 15th, 2023, the woman reported to gardaí that she received a text message purporting to be from the motorway toll operator about unpaid journeys.

She clicked a link in the message, and following an interaction there, she deposited three sums, totalling €2,435, to a bank account.

The court heard she had received threats that failure to pay would result in her account being frozen.

However, the text message did not come from eFlow, the court heard.

The woman did not have to give evidence in the case, but provided a victim impact statement in which she explained how the matter caused her financial embarrassment, enormous stress and hardship at a time when she was saving money for her education.

The court heard Stapleton has no prior criminal convictions.

Since pleading guilty, he has returned €2,500 to the woman and participated in a restorative justice programme through the Probation Service.

'Favour'

Defence solicitor Peter Connolly said his client was a personal trainer and played semi-professional football and "is due to go to Italy for a trial at a club next week".

He said Stapleton was from a pro-social background and "was shocked that doing a favour for someone led to this happening; it is something he has agonised over".

The accused had drafted a letter which was submitted to the court.

Pleading for leniency, Mr Connolly added: "The Probation Service was happy that he had learned from this, and if given a chance, he will not get into further trouble."

The court heard that Stapleton has used his skills as a personal trainer to work in the voluntary sector.

The judge also heard he co-operated with the investigation and would pay more money to the injured party as a further token of remorse.

The solicitor added: "This is a situation the court is dealing with a lot and shows how you have to be careful with who you trust and what you do with your bank account."

The court heard Stapleton was approached by a friend who asked for the use of his account for a lodgement. He was asked "to just take it out for us, and that is what he did."

However, he has since disassociated from that person.

The solicitor asked the judge to note that the accused had solid employment and future prospects and that "this has given him an awful fright".

The victim said she did not want further money, but asked that any compensation be paid to an animal welfare charity.

Judge Binchy also noted that the Probation Service deemed Stapleton to be at a low risk of re-offending.

She said she would spare him a criminal record if he gave €750 to the nominated cause. Otherwise, he would get a recorded conviction and a €1,000 fine.

The case was adjourned for seven weeks.