A GLASGOW man became involved in scamming a stranger out of £8k after seeing an advert on Facebook.

Gary Cunningham let criminals use his bank account for funds to be transferred into after others defrauded the unknown victim.

He was charged with converting £8000 worth of criminal property into Euros at TUI stores at the Glasgow Fort shopping centre on January 5, 2018.

The 37-year-old appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court for sentencing.

Procurator fiscal depute Monique Cooney explained that a woman was within her home when she received calls to her mobile phone.

The court heard that these phone calls were nothing to do with Cunningham.

Ms Cooney said: “The woman was greeted by a male perpetrating to be from HSBC bank. The male stated he was carrying out security checks in relation to funds that had left her bank account.

“She informed him she had not carried out any recent transactions on her account and that her bank was not held with HSBC but with Lloyds. The call ended. Ten minutes later she received another call.

“A male with an English accent stated he was from Lloyds bank. He stated he was following up on a possible fraudulent payment from her account. The male was able to provide details relating to her account including her name, date of birth, and account number.

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“She thought the call was genuine and she continued to cooperate. The male caller asked her to reset her online password in order to rectify the alleged fraudulent payment.

"She was informed there were three fraudulent payments going to accounts in Scotland. The caller stated he would send her three reverse codes and she should enter these, and it would authorise the reverse transactions.”

Eight thousand pounds was transferred into Cunningham’s account. Meanwhile, the woman was told the fraudulent funds had been rectified and the phone call ended.

Cunningham, of Barmulloch, then converted the money into Euros.

His defence solicitor said: “He had become involved as he saw something on Facebook in relation to making money. He had nothing to do with the phone call itself.

“The complainer received full reimbursement from her bank. He has never been before the court before and has not been in trouble since this offence happened.”

Sheriff Bernard Ablett ordered Cunningham to be under social work supervision for 12 months and carry out 108 hours of unpaid work.

The sheriff told him: “You saw an advert on Facebook for what was described as an easy way for you to make money. You responded to that, and you spoke to the person who was responsible for that advert.

“Had it not been for you allowing the money to pass through your account then this fraud may not have occurred. However, I do accept some level of naivety on your part.”