Woman pleads guilty to €16,000 credit card fraud

A woman who used a Spanish national’s American Express credit card to buy clothes from Brown Thomas and holidays in Hawaii has been remanded on bail for sentence on July 21.

Kim Healy, aged 43, of The Old Ross Road, Tara, Co Meath, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three counts of deception under the Theft and Fraud Act 2001.

The fraudulent activities of the mother of two grown-up children were conducted between November 2002 and March 2003 and involved a total amount of €24,000.

The total loss, however, amounted to €16,000 and all except €1,500 has so far been repaid.

Detective Garda Dave O’Leary told prosecuting counsel, Ms Marie Torrens BL, that Healy is originally from French Guinea but is married to an Irishman and has been living in the country for the last 20 years.

She had not stolen the credit card that she used, but told gardaí she came across a receipt of a transaction made on the card while she was at Barcelona Airport.

The card belonged to a Spanish national who never reported it missing as it had not been physically stolen.

Det. Gda O’Leary said when the first fraudulent transaction on the card was noted, it was put down to a computer mistake.

Healy had noted the number and expiry date on the receipt and used it to buy clothes and gift vouchers worth a total of €2,700 from Brown Thomas and vouchers from Laura Ashley as well as to book a holiday for four in Hawaii worth over €7,000 at John Cassidy Travel in Blanchardstown.

All the transactions had been conducted over the telephone and the goods had been delivered to Healy at her address.

Det. Gda O’Leary told Ms Torrens that matters came to light when American Express called the John Cassidy travel agency and told them that the holiday to Hawaii booked by Healy on the credit card might be fraudulent.

Mr Brian McCarthy from the travel agency alerted gardaí following the call from American Express and after investigations gardaí waited for her at Dublin Airport on March 20, 2003 as she returned from a holiday in England.

Healy was arrested and admitted to fraudulent use of the card. A search of her house also revealed several receipts for transactions she had made on the card buying luggage, flowers, clothes at Debenhams, vouchers from Brown Thomas and the holiday in Hawaii.

"It was greed. I suppose it was greed," Healy told gardaí. She said she had felt bad about using the card, but had not been able to help herself. She readily admitted to all the offences and said she had learnt how to use the number and expiry date on a card from a friend a long time ago.

Ms Kathleen Leader BL, for Healy, told Judge Desmond Hogan that some of the clothes Healy bought from Brown Thomas were still in their wrapping when the investigation was conducted.

Ms Leader said Healy had since paid for the clothes with her own money but instead of using them herself has decided to donate them to a charity.

Judge Hogan said the clothes should be given to a charity of choice by gardaí.

Healy had also compensated the travel agency for its loss. She had been a regular customer at Brown Thomas and at the agency before she defrauded them.

Ms Leader also said that a cheque for the remaining €1,500 that had not been recovered so far has been handed to the court, but had not been paid out to the various businesses because it had to be broken down and made out in individual names.

Ms Leader told Judge Hogan that Healy was suffering from severe depression and medical reports furnished to the court put into context her offences.

Judge Hogan said he was taking those factors into account in deciding to remand her on bail to allow the Probation and Welfare Services to monitor her suitability for a non-custodial sentence.