Belfast beauty salon was defrauded out of over £3,000 in refunding scam
A member of staff who defrauded a Belfast beauty salon out of more than £3,000 has been given 200 hours community service.
Gemma Geary was also ordered to pay back the full amount she took from Secret Day Spa during a refunding scam or face the threat of being sent to prison.
The 25-year-old was also caught with a packet of magic mushrooms apparently being kept to help lose weight.
Geary, of Lichfield Avenue in the city, pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud by false representation and a further count of having Class A drugs.
Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard the owner of the spa on the Belmont Road reported suspicious activity to police on October 2 last year.
Investigations uncovered multiple unauthorised refunds had been issued onto two Revolut bank cards on dates during August and September.
Prosecutors revealed that the business suffered a total loss of £3,390.
CCTV checks at the salon confirmed Geary was on duty and using the bank card at around the time each of the frauds was carried out.
Police searched her home and discovered two Revolut cards cut up into small pieces in a bin, one of them with her name on it.
A small packet of the hallucinogenic substances were also located in an upstairs bedroom.
“She indicated that the magic mushrooms were in relation to weight loss,” a Crown lawyer said.
Defence counsel Michael Boyd described it as an unsophisticated fraud which was always going to be detected.
“I can’t say it was an aberration because it went on for months, but hopefully it’s an isolated episode in her life that was triggered by getting herself into debt,” he said.
Mr Boyd told the court his client’s reputation was now destroyed.
“Obviously she lost her job as a result of this and she is going to find it difficult to get another job.
Passing sentence, District Judge Steven Keown ordered: “There will be 200 hours community service, that is a direct alternative to custody.”
He told Geary that she has six months to repay her former employer. “If you don’t you will be coming back into court for fine default and looking at custody that way,” Mr Keown warned. “It is important that you pay back everything you took.”