Midlands 'money mule' used in pandemic unemployment payments scam

A Maynooth University student was recruited as a “money mule” to transfer illegally obtained pandemic unemployment payments into other people's bank accounts, a court has heard.

Luke McNamee (20) of Loughlinstown Road, Celbridge, Co Kildare, was completing his Leaving Cert when he was added as a friend by a man on Snapchat and asked if he wanted to make “easy money”.

McNamee, then aged 18, sent the person his bank account details and got involved in money-laundering PUP payments to the tune of €4,700, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.

McNamee pleaded guilty to one count of possessing the proceeds of crime in his AIB bank account on dates between May 18 and July 30 2021.

At a hearing on Thursday, Judge Orla Crowe said McNamee had made a “monumentally bad decision” but acknowledged that he had effectively handed himself into gardaí once he realised his mistake.

Judge Crowe applied Section 100 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, which involves deferring a sentence and imposing conditions for the defendant to meet until the sentencing date.

The judge ordered McNamee to keep the peace and be of good behaviour until December 14, at which point he could be discharged from the indictment. If he doesn't comply, Judge Crowe said the court would consider a 12-month sentence.

The judge also noted McNamee had made a gain of €1,500 for his role and ordered him to repay this sum to the gardaí for onward transmission to the Department of Social Protection.

McNamee has no previous convictions, and Garda Amy Devery told the court she thought he was unlikely to come before the courts again.

“I think it's unlikely; I think he made a big mistake, but I think he's learnt from it,” said Gda Devery.

She told Derek Cooney BL, prosecuting, that a man on Snapchat added McNamee as a friend on May 18, 2021. The man on Snapchat gave his name as “R Boogie”, the court heard.

When R Boogie asked McNamee if he wanted to make “easy money,” the student replied that he did and proceeded to give his bank account details over Snapchat.

R Boogie told McNamee that money would come into his account every Tuesday and that he would get instructions on what to do with it.

16 sums of Pandemic Unemployment Payments, initially of €350 per week and then of €250 weekly, were transferred into McNamee's bank account by the Department of Social Welfare.

McNamee would then get instructions via Snapchat to transfer various amounts into different bank accounts or to buy items on the ASOS shopping app and then hand over the goods.

The court heard that, at one point, McNamee got the orders mixed up and lost money. He began to get threats by text message from R Boogie.

McNamee was told he owed money of up to €10,000 and that R Boogie was going to “call up to the house”.

On August 12, 2021, McNamee presented at a garda station with his parents and told his full story, giving gardaí his bank and Revolut details and printouts of his Snapchat and text messages.

Gardaí discovered that two separate women, neither of whom had ever claimed Pandemic Unemployment Payments, were contacted by the Department of Social Protection to say their PUP was under review.

It emerged that both of these women's names had been used to lodge fraudulent PUP claims to the total value of €4,700, which had been lodged into McNamee's account.

Gda Devery agreed with Jennifer Jackson BL, defending that McNamee “couldn't have been any more cooperative” with gardaí.

Ms Jackson told the court that this type of offence, known as “money muling” has become such a problem that gardaí have taken out ad campaigns to warn students against getting involved.

Counsel said McNamee was never on the radar for criminal activity and comes from a law-abiding family.

“He was at the lower end of the operation, but he made an extremely stupid decision to become involved,” said Ms Jackson. She attributed McNamee's lack of ability to see consequences to his youth at the time.

The court heard that McNamee planned to use the money to pay for a holiday with his friends after the Leaving Cert.

A large number of letters and character references in support of McNamee were handed into court.

Deputy principals of two schools and representative of sporting clubs described him as “caring, compassionate and trustworthy” and spoke of his support and kindness towards younger team members.

“A significant amount of people within the community are willing to put pen to paper and come out to bat for him. They are rooting for him,” counsel said.

Judge Crowe said that although others had set up a sophisticated money-laundering system, McNamee had played an active role in that he was involved in the passing on of money and had made a gain.

She took into account McNamee's youth and the fact that the offending had taken place during the pandemic when there wasn't the same awareness in relation to these types of activities.

The judge noted that McNamee is working part-time in a pub and can make reparation.

The case was adjourned for mention to November 16.