Donovan Victor Ennew’s bank accounts used in romance scam
A “shy” Sydney man has been used as a pawn by online romance scammers for a second time, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
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A “shy” Sydney man has been used as a pawn by online romance scammers for a second time, a court has heard.
In 2017, Donovan Victor Ennew, 42, transferred thousands of dollars to a woman he had never met called Marie Scott from the United Arab Emirates, the Local Court heard on Wednesday.
Magistrate Michael Barko told the court Ennew’s bank accounts were also used to purchase Apple products which were sent to South Africa.
“So many people we read about in the media are lovestruck, or romantically conned. (Ennew) was conned by this fake individual … a female he believed to be a real person,” Magistrate Barko said.
The court heard Ennew was warned by police his account was likely being used for “nefarious purposes”.
Two years later, the Leichhardt man’s accounts were used by scammers in a plot to con two elderly Aussie women out of cash, Mr Barko told the court.
An 83-yr-old woman, who now “has no money left” was conned out of more than $50,000 by the scammers in 11 transactions, he said.
Ennew pleaded guilty to two counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime.
The police charge sheet shows between January and May 2019, a sum of $4,800 and $52,790 was transferred into Ennew’s bank account.
He denies a third charge that he participated in the criminal group, alleging he was conned.
Ennew’s lawyers applied on Wednesday to have the charges he admitted dismissed on mental health grounds, which Mr Barko refused.
A psychiatric report summarised in court found Ennew suffered from avoidant personality disorder, insomnia, with some depression and anxiety.
Mr Barko told the court the psychologist found Ennew “should be able to judge (whether he was) being scammed”, with no impairments to his reasoning abilities.
Ennew’s bail was extended with a condition not to open matchmaking or dating websites.
The matter was adjourned for a hearing in August.
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