Gloria Roberta Escott pleads guilty at Toowoomba District Court for money laundering after falling for online love scam
An elderly Toowoomba woman thought she had found the man of her dreams, until she found herself facing court for laundering thousands of dollars for. See how she was conned here.
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Despite warnings from police, an 81-year-old Oakey woman was conned by an online lover and scammed into laundering tens of thousands of dollars into cryptocurrency crime.
Gloria Roberta Escott pleaded guilty in the Toowoomba District Court to one count of money laundering between October 13 and December 30 2020.
The court was told Escott held an online romance for four years before she was influenced into allowing $21,400 to be transferred into her bank account, before transferring it into the bitcoin app Cointree.
The then 79-year-old held an online romance with a “fictitious entity” named Daniel for four years after the Oakey resident went on a search for companionship.
Escott’s Barrister Isabelle MacNicol told the court her client was in search of someone to love, and even had a supposed photo of Daniel’s granddaughter hanging on her wall.
“She was told by police (he) was a scammer, but she didn’t believe them,” Ms MacNicol said.
“Instead, she told Daniel what had happened, and he persuaded her that it wasn’t real … she continued to take instructions from Daniel.
“She’s here today in court as a result of trusting the wrong people online.”
Crown Prosecutor Shontelle Petrie said while the offence was “serious”, she had lived a life free of a criminal history, and had fostered 15 children over a 20-year period.
“Being a lonely, elderly woman, she was obviously vulnerable to the target of these scams,” Ms Petrie said.
“Unfortunately Ms Escott did not heed the warning that she has been given in early 2020 when she was told she was the victim of a romance scam and that is concerning, but it must be balanced against all other features of this case.”
Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren SC said money laundering was a serious offence, however the internet had provided the opportunity for vulnerable people “through no fault of their own … (to) be taken in by the swindlers who live on the internet”.
In this situation, Judge Horneman-Wren said “sadly two people were scammed”.
“Unfortunately you were taken in by a person of considerable dishonesty who represented themselves to be someone who they were not.”
Escott was sentenced to 12 months probation, with no conviction recorded.
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