Glasgow bank worker claims he was 'forced' to commit £75,000 by 'dark web' criminals

An Ayrshire bank worker who claimed he carried out a £75k fraud after being forced by shadowy "dark web" criminals has been spared jail “by the skin of his teeth”.

Dayne Lynn said he fell prey to the unknown individuals who targeted him because of his job.

The 22-year-old had earlier become "curious" about the "dark web" having watched a TV show about it.

He joined an internet chat forum - and ended up being stupid enough to reveal some personal details.

This included his role on the fraud team Lloyds bank at Glasgow’s Atlantic Quay and he has since been sacked.

A sheriff heard he was eventually ordered to swindle from two accounts and transfer cash to the mystery crime gang.

Lynn, from Irvine, North Ayrshire pled guilty to, while acting with others, embezzling and attempting to embezzle a total of £74,600 from Timothy Evans and Stuart Bryce’s accounts on July 18, 2016.

Sheriff Martin Jones QC said “There’s no satisfactory explanation as to why a young man of his intelligence simply didn’t press the button and switch off.”

He told Lynn’s lawyer Ross Yuill, “There’s only one ting stopping him going to prison and that is that nobody lost any money.”

The sheriff handed Lynn a community payback order for 18 months with the conditions he is supervised, will carry out 240 hours unpaid work and will be in his bail address between 8pm and 7am for six months.

He told Lynn: “You have made it by the skin of your teeth.”

The court heard he was employed in the fraud operation department of the bank to deal with accounts that have been flagged for security reasons.

On July 18, 2016 began work at 8am but between 7.45am and 9.30am had accessed 19 customer accounts with no legitimate business reason.

Procurator fiscal depute Richard Hill said “The account details of Mr Evans and Mr Bryce were accessed during that time.

“At 11.33am the accused transferred £25,000 from Mr Evans’ account to another man with the reference ‘LMX Diggers’.

“At 11.45am he attempted to transfer £25,000 from Mr Evan’s account to another account with the reference ‘Cobra Boats’.

“The transfer was blocked by the banking system due to the total being above the permitted daily transfer allowance.”

Later that day he transferred £24,600 from Mr Bryce’s account to another account with the reference ‘Prestige Boats’ but this was frozen because of suspected fraudulent activity.

Mr Hill added: “None of the transfers were authorised by the customers and were processed by Lynn accessing and falsely authorising the funds using his clearance as a bank employee to overcome the bank security measures.”

He said that all money was reversed by the bank so neither men or the bank suffered any financial loss.

An internal investigation was carried out an Lynn was subject of a disciplinary hearing where he admitted his bank login was used, by denied being responsible.

The police were later informed and when questioned on May 10, 2017, Lynn made no comment throughout his interview.

Mr Yuill told the court Lynn became involved after going on the “dark web” after watching a Netflix documentary - believed to be “Dark Net”.

He said that after speaking to people on a forum he, “gave away too much information” and was threatened into becoming involved in the scam.

Asked by the sheriff why he went on to the website in the first place, Mr Yuill said: “It was curiosity, he didn’t think it could be true that this type of site was in existence.”

Mr Yuill said Lynn’s involvement was as an employee of the fraud team.

He explained that others involved “overcame banking security” and made the transfers, which Lynn authorised when they came to him as a flagged up account.

Mr Yuill said Lynn claimed he was “fairly certain” the next level of security after him would prevent the payment actually being made but “he would not face any repercussions because he had carried out his part”