A crooked bank worker who swindled £36,000 in a foreign currency scam to fund his football gambling addiction has dodged a jail term.
David Hay was employed as a financial investigator with HSBC when he cheated a group of pals out of the huge sum.
The 42-year-old carried out the fraud to allow him to bet “as much money as possible” online, a court heard.
Hay appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday for sentencing after the case was deferred for reports.
Sheriff Douglas Keir gave Hay the maximum 300 hours of unpaid work.
The sheriff told him there was no discount for his guilty plea as the “discount” was not going to prison.
Hay was also placed on supervision for 20 months and ordered to pay £250-a-month to victim Garry Small for the next 18 months.
At a hearing last month, the court heard Garry was forced to take out a £29,000 loan to reimburse friends after he recommended investing cash with the con artist.
Hay’s ex-wife also took out a £25,000 loan to pay back people who had been targeted by the fraudulent scheme.
Fiscal depute Anna Chisholm told that hearing how Hay contacted Garry, whom he knew through family friends, over WhatsApp.
Hay claimed he could provide euros and dollars at “excellent rates” as he received the currency from a HSBC senior manager in Paris.
Hay claimed the manager bought currency back “at cost”, Ms Chisholm said, and this was “given to him cheaply and all the money went back to HSBC”.
The prosecutor said Garry made bank transfers amounting to £20,000 to Hay, and there were “no issues at first” with the foreign currency collected at the accused’s home several times.
She said Garry then acted as “middle man”, with pals transferring money to him which he passed to Hay, and the group received the currency “for their holidays”.
But during August 2018, Garry made transfers to Hay for amounts including £2100, £5000 and £6650 when foreign currency was never received.
Victim Matthew Wright transferred £4500 to Hay that month but never received the US dollars he paid for.
Robert Bell transferred £10,000 on the same day and was never given his requested euros.
Steven Thomson was also cheated out of cash, the court heard, paying £7000 for currency he never received.
Ms Chisholm said Garry “took it upon himself” to reimburse his pals as he “felt responsible”, taking out a £29,000 bank loan.
The court heard Hay sent a WhatsApp message to Garry in September 2018 stating HSBC senior manager Malcolm Scott would “reimburse all the money”.
Ms Chisholm added: “Enquiries have established Malcolm Scott does not exist (and) does not work at HSBC.”
She said Hay told Garry over WhatsApp that another senior HSBC manager, Peter Roy, was the “supplier of the currency”.
The court was told Garry received messages “purporting” to be from Mr Roy and, his “trust” renewed, he continued sending money to Hay to be exchanged for foreign currency.
Another victim Allan Preston sent cash which disappeared, Ms Chisholm said, and Garry “felt responsible” and reimbursed him with £6000 before reporting Hay to police in March 2019.
Police contacted the real Peter Roy, who did work at HSBC. The court heard he told officers he’d recruited Hay to work as a financial investigator and had never heard of the currency scheme and it wasn’t supported by the bank.
Interviewed by cops, Hay said he’d been sacked by the bank for breaching data protection to “gather details for this fraudulent scheme”.
Hay told officers he continued taking money to “fund his gambling addiction, namely football online with Bet365, where he would spend as much money as possible”, Ms Chisholm added.
Hay, of the city’s Leith area, said he’d used Peter Roy’s name to “keep Garry at bay”.
Hay admitted obtaining £35,970 by fraud between June 1 and October 8 2018.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
