Carluke woman used dying grandma's bank card for web betting

The fraud and theft came to light when the bank wrote to her family saying that direct debits had not been paid.

And at Lanark Sheriff Court last Wednesday, Amy Wyper, 24, of Whitehill Crescent, Carluke, pled guilty to two charges.

She admitted forming a fraudulent scheme in October 2015 to obtain the services of the online betting company by opening an account with Betable.com pretending she was the lawful holder of debit cards in the name of Helen Wyper, now deceased, and another relative, who is disabled, and using those cards to pay for betting services, gaining £3,030 by fraud.

She also admitted stealing £2,310 from cash machines at Tesco and the TSB in Carluke between September 1 and October 9 2015 by using bank cards and personal identification numbers.

Outlining the circumstances, depute fiscal Ziad Hassan said that Wyper had been asked by her grandmother to carry out various chores on her behalf, and on behalf of a disabled relative who was unable to do shopping or banking.

“The grandmother was admitted to Wishaw General and later passed away,” said Mr Hassan.

“But, in essence, the family had received certain letters from the TSB, opened by the next of kin, stating several direct debits were unpaid.”

Wyper had been using the debit card to withdraw cash, sums ranging from £40 to £300 “on an almost daily basis”.

The family contacted the bank and the police, and CCTV showed Wyper withdrawing various amounts from her grandmother’s account.

There were also payments to Betable.com, with the bank cards registered to the website, the court heard.

“The accused had been using the card of the deceased to use the services on Betable, an online betting site,” said Mr Hassan.

When interviewed by police, Wyper admitted she had been using her dead grandmother’s bank accounts.

Wyper had no previous convictions, and sheriff Nikola Stewart called for background reports before hearing mitigation from her solicitor.