Dodgy Bank Worker Swindles Pals out of £36,000 to Fund Football Gambling Habit

David Hay a financial investigator for HSBC, has dodged a jail term after stealing £36,000 in foreign currency from pals to fuel his online gambling addiction.42-year-old Hay appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday for sentencing after the case was postponed due to reports. The judge ordered Hay the maximum of 300 unpaid hours, citing there would be no discount in Hay’s case as not going to jail was a discount. Hay was also placed under a 20-month supervision order and ordered to pay back Garry Small £250 a month for £18 months.

Stole to Gamble Online

The court heard Hay stole as much as possible to allow him to gamble freely mainly football online at Bet365.Garry Small was forced to take out a £29,000 loan to pay back friends who he had invited to invest cash with Hay.Unfortunately, Small was not the only person drawn into the scam, Hay’s ex-wife had to take out a loan of £25,000 to help pay back people he had defrauded.Hay knew Garry through a family friend and contacted him claiming he could process euros and dollars at excellent rates through an HSBC colleague in Paris. He told Garry, the manager brought back the currency at cost and all the money went back to HSBC.

Middle-Man

After a few smooth transactions taking place at the defendant’s home, Garry became the middle-man introducing friends and transferring money to Hay. In August 2018, Garry transferred varying amounts to Hay, but the foreign currency never appeared.In short, Mathew Wright paid Hay £4500 but did not receive the currency, Robert Bell transferred £10,000 but again did not receive his requested currency and Steve Thompson transferred £7,000 for currency he did not receive.The judge commended Garry Small for taking out loans to pay back his friends after Mr Small said he felt responsible for what had happened.When Hay first contacted Garry he said Malcolm Scott a senior HSBC manager would reimburse the money but later inquiries would reveal he did not exist and a currency scheme of this nature did not exist at HSBC.      

Leave a comment