Woman spent £2500 using friend’s bank card

Sentence has been further deferred on a greedy Airdrie woman who spent nearly £2500 of her friend’s money without her knowledge.

Michelle Beatson, 35, admitted using the man’s bank card over a two-and-a-half year period.

The victim, who has learning difficulties, was a close friend of Bore Road resident Beatson and trusted her with his bank details to order an item for him using her online Amazon account.

However, once the first transaction was complete, the floodgates opened and Beatson ran up the four- figure sum of £2493.

During an appearance at Airdrie Sheriff Court earlier this month, the procurator fiscal described Beatson’s selfish actions: “The complainer had been a friend of the accused and her husband for 20 years.

“He has learning difficulties and gave the accused his bank details so she could buy a game for him online. She bought the game using her Amazon account and it was delivered to the complainer; all was in order.

“But thereafter, the illegal activity began to take place and she began ordering goods for herself from the account.

“It ended in December 2013 as the bank card expired and no further activity from it was possible.”

She continued: “But in October 2015, the victim asked the accused for the same favour.

“Two days later, she began to make purchases to her home address.

“The victim became suspicious when he was told by his bank he had insufficient funds to pay some of his outgoings.

“His sister looked into it, saw orders from Amazon and then contacted the police.

“In all, 184 transactions had been made from the card, of which only two were sent to the victim’s address.”

When Beatson returned to the dock last week, Sheriff Morag Shankland deferred sentencing to allow for a further investigation into who suffered from the loss – Amazon or the victim.