Uni graduate scammed teen girl out of thousands

AUNIVERSITY of Glasgow graduate scammed a teenage girl out of £8100 by pretending to be calling from her bank.

Lakshmi Vetriselvan, 22, appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court after targeting the 18-year-old girl from Leicester, England.

The procurator fiscal depute said: “On May 16, 2019, the victim was within her home address when she received a telephone call from an unknown caller who reported to be calling from her bank.

“The victim was told that there was a number of suspicious transactions and, as such, she was required to transfer funds to what was described as a ‘safe account’.

“She was provided with a sort code and an account number to transfer funds to, which was a total of £8100. This money was transferred into the accused’s bank account.”

Vetriselvan then attended at a shopping centre in the city’s South Side the same day.

The court heard: “The accused was within Silverburn Shopping Centre and attended at Debenhams foreign exchange counter. She purchased £2898.74 worth of Euros.”

The 22-year-old also attended at Barrhead Travel where she purchased £1990.91 worth of Euros, before attempting to purchase £1850.16 worth of Euros from Marks and Spencer, which was all captured on CCTV.

On May 26, information was received that Vetriselvan was the beneficiary of £8100 into her bank account. A request was submitted to the serious and organised crime unit. Following an investigation, she was arrested on November 7, 2019.

The 18-year-old victim was fully refunded the £8100 by her bank. Vetriselvan’s solicitor said his client came to the UK following family troubles and funded herself through her studies at

Glasgow.

He added: “It was accepted by the police that she played no part in the initial fraud. She foolishly involved herself after suffering from financial difficulties herself.

“She was given this opportunity to make some money and she extremely foolishly involved herself. She is a very intelligent young woman and should have known better. She gained £1000 from this incident.

“She was very distressed when arrested and now has ongoing mental health issues due to her involvement in this. She has a pharmacology degree and is extremely worried that this crime will prevent her getting a job. My submission to the court is to deal with this matter by the

University of imposing a community-based disposal. She has funds available to pay any fine or compensation. She will pay whatever is required.”

Sheriff Patricia Pryce told Vetriselvan: “For somebody who is a graduate of university and intelligent, you should know much better.

“You knew you were getting yourself involved into a fraudulent scheme. This was an 18-year-old victim who would have gone through a huge amount of anxiety and faced humiliation knowing she had been defrauded of £8100. This is a matter you could have quite easily gone to jail for.”

Vetriselvan, of Woodlands Road, was ordered to pay a £2100 fine, reduced from £2800 due to her guilty plea.