A crooked bank worker cheated a group of pals out of £36,000 in a foreign currency scam to fund his football gambling addiction.
David Hay was employed as a financial investigator with HSBC when he carried out the swindle to allow him to bet “as much money as possible” online.
One of Hay’s victims was forced to take out a £29,000 loan to reimburse friends after he recommended they invest 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.
Hay, 42, appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday and admitted obtaining £35,970 by fraud.
Fiscal depute Anna Chisholm told how Hay contacted victim Garry Small, whom he knew through family friends, over WhatsApp.
The court was told Hay claimed he could provide euros and dollars at “excellent rates” as he received the currency from a HSBC senior manager in Paris.
Ms Chisholm said Hay claimed the manager bought currency back “at cost” and this was “given to him cheaply and all the money went back to HSBC”.
She 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.
Garry “spread the word amongst his friends”, the prosecutor added, that Hay could “source foreign currency at good rates”.
She said Garry acted as the “middle man”, with pals transferring money to him which he passed to Hay, and the group received the currency “for their holidays”.
But the court heard “problems arose at the requests gained in frequency and value” and Hay began to commit fraud.
During August 2018, Garry made transfers to Hay for amounts including £2100, £5000 and £6650 were 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” for introducing them to the scheme, 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, the court heard 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 off the friends to “fund his gambling addiction, namely football online with Bet365, where he would spend as much money as possible”, Ms Chisholm added.
Hay said Bet356 became concerned about the amount of gambling and closed his account, but told police he started gambling with William Hill instead.
Hay, of the city’s Leith area, said he’d used Peter Roy’s name to “keep Garry at bay”.
Hay admitted carrying out the fraud between June 1 and October 8 2018.
Defence agent Dan Cameron said Hay was a first offender.
Sheriff Douglas Keir deferred sentence on Hay until next month for reports.
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