MARCH: Hard up teenager warned he may face jailed over internet money scam

A HARD up teenager who got involved in an internet money laundering scam has been warned that he could be jailed.

Eighteen-year-old Lithuanian Ronaldas Janusevicius was offered money to allow someone to pay stolen cash into his bank account.

"He was a dupe, a fall guy," Fenland magistrates were told by solicitor Ben Pearson on Wednesday.

The teenager, of Elwyn Road, March, admitted converting £9,000 of criminal property through a dishonest banking transfer.

The court heard how Benjamin Burnip was tricked into providing his bank details over the internet, via an e-mail that purported to have come from Lloyds TSB.

He was later contacted by his bank, because a £9,000 overdraft had been arranged on his account, explained prosecutor Andrew Williams.

Janusevicius had provided details of his account to a man, and the £9,000 overdraft from Mr Burnip's account was transferred into the 18-year-old's bank account. Another man took the teenager to a cash machine in London's Leicester Square, and £603 was withdrawn from the account. The remaining £8.397 was later recovered by the bank.

Mr Pearson said the teenager had allowed his bank account to be used, although he knew the man was "up to no good."

Janusevicius had got into financial difficulties when he lost his job, and a female friend offered him a way out, and organised a meeting with someone who played a larger part in the scam.

"Because the money was laundered through an account in his name, when it came to light, there was just one person the police wanted to talk to, and that is the person whose bank account was used," he said. "The people who organised the scheme avoided detection."

The teenager had received no payment, he added, and his bank card and PIN number were never returned to him.

Sentencing was adjourned until August 19 for a pre-sentence report.