Legal Help For Friend Who Commited Fraud

[Guest]

Wondering if you can help me, looking for some advice for my friend who’s pregnant and worried witless.

She stupidly made a fake email from a bank, to show her friend that she needed to pay x amount, so she could access her funds. Not sure if she gave a reason why, but her friend lent her the £725 needed to pay for the release of her funds. She said it was something to do with overdraft charges. And when it had completed and passed through she would pay back £6000

Needless to say she didn’t have the 6k and her friend has contacted her bank who have now blocked her account and are treating it as fraud.

She wants to know what her best option would be, she doesn’t want her partner and children disturbed by this. She wants to know what’s likely to happen when the police are involved, what kind of sentence she’d be looking at and if she should contact the bank and the police her self and hold her hands up!


I have no experience, but I am worried that she is harming her baby so much.

[des8]

Was the £725 transferred into your friend's bank account from the donor's account?
Was the £725 recovered?

This would appear to be a one-off fraud, in which only one deception has taken place. Where the perpetrator is vulnerable, a typical sentence might community based.
Mitigating factors that will be taken into account are:

• Whether the defendant has any mental illness or disability
• Youth or age, if that means that they are less responsible
• Whether the behaviour was not fraudulent at the outset, but circumstances changed
• Whether the defendant can show that incorrect advice from a third party contributed to the fraud taking place
• Where there is evidence that someone stopped offending before they were caught
• Whether there have been full admissions and cooperation with the authorities
• Whether the money has been given back voluntarily
• Where there has been extreme and undeserved financial pressure on the defendant before the fraud took place

If and when the police contact her (no point in approaching them in advance) advise her that she should only attend for an interview with her solicitor present. If she doesn't have one, request the duty solicitor's presence. This is free and is her right.
The police, no matter how charming, are not her friends in this situation.
She will need professional advice to ensure she does not convict herself.