A Bank of Ireland cashier who used an illegal magnetic data skimmer to steal card details, leading to almost €320,000 being taken from 87 customer accounts, has been given a suspended sentence.
Darren McComiskey (24), Thornville Road, Kilbarrack, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to stealing the account details and pin numbers from customers he served during his employment at the BOI College Green branch.
Detective Sergeant Paul Curtis said McComiskey passed on the account details to two eastern European men who took a total of €319,641 from the 87 accounts.
The fraudulent transactions took place between October 31st, 2006 and February 14th, 2007 and came to light when a number of customers contacted the bank to report that unauthorised sums of money had been taken from their accounts.
Det Sgt Curtis told prosecuting counsel, Karen O’Connor BL, that when an internal investigation revealed all the customers affected had been served by McComiskey, the case was reported to the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation Bureau.
McComiskey then admitted his criminal activity in a series of interviews. An electronic skimmer, along and a bag containing €3,500, were recovered in McComiskey’ bedroom during a Garda search of his home.
Det Gda Curtis said customers wishing to withdraw money had handed their cards to McComiskey who swiped them twice - once through the bank’s legitimate computer software and once through his own machine which recorded their account information.
In order to authorise the withdrawals, the customers then entered their pin numbers onto the bank’s electronic pad. This was observed by McComiskey who jotted down the numbers into a note pad.
McComiskey downloaded all the information he had recorded onto a computer and new bank cards duplicating the information were produced.
Fraudulent transactions then took place all over the country with varying amounts stolen from each account, including one single transaction of €12,600.
Det Gda Curtis said McComiskey had become involved in the scheme through an eastern European doorman he had met in a local nightclub. Together with another eastern European man, the doorman became aware of McComiskey’s employment in the Bank of Ireland and they both approached him in a heavy-handed manner, pressurising him to take part in the scam.
Det Gda Curtis said McComiskey had tried to get out the scam by taking sick leave from the bank. When he finally returned to work, he followed the men’s instructions badly in order to appear incompetent, in the hope they would call off the proceedings.
Det Gda Curtis said his efforts failed and under duress he claimed he had no choice but to go ahead with their criminal scheme.
McComiskey was paid €7,500 to do the work which he said he needed in order to cover various debts he had incurred. All the bank customers had been refunded in full and investigations into the rest of the criminal gang continued.
Judge Martin Nolan said McComiskey was a very weak individual who was easily led and this was his first offence. He imposed a three year sentence which he suspended for five years on condition he keeps the peace and remains out of trouble in that time.