Online dating ends in court
Guilty plea to money laundering
A TASMANIAN woman and her family and friends got caught up in a money laundering scheme perpetrated by a man she met on an online dating website, a Hobart court has heard.
The woman pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in the Supreme Court.
Crown prosecutor Madeleine Figg told the court the woman was 52 when she met a man, who went by the name Donald Price, on the online dating website Zoosk in 2013.
Under his instructions, she opened accounts with three different banks and over the course of 2014 and 2015 she received and transferred large sums of money — in total about $218,000.
The woman told one bank her husband was a drilling engineer who sometimes worked in the United Arab Emirates and America and he would be depositing the money sporadically.
The woman’s daughter and two of her friends also received money into their bank accounts.
The woman was interviewed by Tasmania Police on January 14, 2016, and was told the money going through her accounts had been fraudulently obtained.
She told them she had also given the man $40,000 “to tide him over” because he was waiting on work contracts to come through. She also took out an $11,000 loan for him.
The woman said even though they never met face-toface, she believed he was real, but later started to become suspicious when the names of people receiving the money kept changing. She said she had not heard from Mr Price since November 2015.
The woman’s lawyer told the court a psychologist’s report had found she was suffering a massive depressive episode when she ‘met’ Mr Price online.
She went to Victoria in an attempt to meet him in person, but he said he had to go to America at the last minute for work.
When she questioned him “he would reassure her and told her he loved her and he couldn’t wait to be with her”.
“She didn’t keep any of the money for herself,” her lawyer said. “She thought she was assisting someone she loved and who loved her.”
The woman, now 55, had profound feelings of guilt and shame and felt terrible about being “duped,” the court heard.
Chief Justice Alan Blow said he would not be sending her to jail, but because of the amount of money involved, he would need to hand down a deterrent sentence.
He adjourned the matter for sentencing on August 18.