Online swindler who conned ‘vulnerable’ woman out of €19,000 ‘very lucky’ to go free
SMOOCH.com swindler Alan Custy was told that he was “very, very lucky” as the con man was about to walk free from court.
Judge Gerald Keys made his comment at Ennis Circuit Court after imposing a suspended three-year jail term on Mr Custy for conning €18,950 from a “vulnerable, gullible, trusting” woman he met online.
Custy (42), of Dun na Hinse, Ennis, Co Clare, hatched a scheme where he stole by deception around €18,950 from the woman he met through dating website smooch.com over five months in 2013.
The 47-year-old Limerick woman, who lives alone, was the second online female victim of the scheming Custy, who had previously received a three-year suspended jail term in February 2012 for blackmailing a married woman he had met on connectedsingles.com.
In that case, Custy posed as a Michael Lynch and in the smooch.com case, the father of two posed as an Alan Casey.
Judge Keys said he regarded Mr Custy’s previous conviction for a similar offence as an aggravating factor and viewed it as “very, very serious”.
In relation to Custy’s most recent offence, Judge Keys said the way he had obtained the monies was “terrible and horrible”.
Counsel for Custy, Pat Whyms BL said his client has paid off the entire €18,950 to the woman and his final instalment was €750.
Judge Keys said the mitigating factors were Custy had pleaded guilty; repaid all of the monies and had not come to the attention of the gardaí since his plea of guilty in 2015. Judge Keys said that he would suspend the three year prison for four years.
Det Garda Claire O’Shaughnessy had told the court that the female victim in the case lives alone and was trusting, gullible, had health problems and suffered from self-esteem issues when looking for romance online in June 2013.
At the sentencing hearing, Det O’Shaughnessy said that the victim had become suspicious of Custy and contacted gardaí in November 2013 after coming across an online newspaper account of his blackmailing case.
However, by that stage, the woman had handed over
€18,950.
Her victim impact statement said Custy’s abuse of her good nature “completely shattered my confidence in men and people in general”.