Community detention, reparation for cellphone scam

SELLING the same nonexistent cellphone on social media 11 times netted a Dunedin man more than $3000, a court has heard.

It was the perfect crime, except each time Christopher Simon Mackechnie defrauded someone he had to give them his bank details, so it took little investigative police work to track him down.

Originally, the 25yearold told them he let other people use his bank account but he appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday having admitted 11 charges of obtain ing by deception.

Mackechnie first came to police’s attention on March 27 — two months after he had begun his campaign of Facebook fraud — for something completely unrelated.

He was seen speeding through Mosgiel in an unwarranted, unregistered vehicle.

Later, he picked up a friend and continued the course of dangerous driving.

Mackechnie drifted across the centre line in Church St.

The defendant was seen ‘‘fidgeting’’ with the bottom of the steering wheel rather than concentrating on the road, the court heard.

As a result, Mackechnie drove through a stop sign and into another car.

Police discovered afterwards he was on a learner licence.

Mackechnie told them he had bought the Honda two days earlier and the brakes had failed, which was not his fault.

The bulk of Mackechnie’s offending though came from his activity on social media site Facebook between January and June.

He first advertised a Samsung cellphone for sale on the platform for $250.

The buyer transferred money into the defendant’s account and there was an agreement the item would be sent by track andtrace courier.

Once Mackechnie received the funds, he blocked the victim on Facebook.

The formula was simple and effective, so he repeated it.

From February 10, Mackechnie employed his fraudulent tactic three times in five days, making $875.

Later the defendant became more cautious, using pseudonyms — ‘‘Hannah Kingi’’ and ‘‘Jade Smith’’ — rather than his own account.

But the bank details were his and inevitably led police to his door.

Defence counsel Marie TaylorCyphers said her client had a history of violence, rat her than dishonesty.

She told the court Mackechnie had grown up in a family ‘‘steeped in crime’’ but was adamant he had broken away from from that lifestyle.

He now had a fulltime job as a gardener and wanted to pay back the people he had ripped off.

Judge Kevin Phillips obliged, making a reparation order for more than $3000.

He also imposed four months’ community detention, 12 months’ intensive supervision, 150 hours’ community work.

Mackechnie was banned from driving for nine months.