Suddenly there were 25,000 euros in the account: Schongauer (31) sentenced to daily rates for money laundering

Created: 09/26/2022, 10:30 am

Lady Justice has spoken.

© Blatterspiel / IMAGO

A 31-year-old from Schongau had to answer to the Weilheim District Court for money laundering.

It was only thanks to the attention of the bank that a woman was prevented from being cheated out of 25,000 euros.

BY FLORIAN ZERHOCH

Schongau –

According to his own statement, the 31-year-old received a transfer of 25,000 euros from an unknown address in November last year.

In a WhatsApp message that followed shortly afterwards, he was informed that the amount was a payment to an aid organization that would benefit the needy in Africa.

"The money was supposedly intended for food, medicine and building a village," the accused said in court.

The serious-looking message "cooked him softly," said the Schongauer.

He couldn't show the chats, several cell phone changes made that impossible.

Money for Africa via bitcoin account

So that the money also arrives in Africa, he was asked to transfer the amount to his Bitcoin account and from there, using a QR code, to another Bitcoin account in Estonia.

He should have kept 200 euros as a thank you for his good deed, it said.

The whole undertaking did not seem strange to him at first.

According to him, the question of why he was chosen and why the transfer was not made directly to the organization's account did not concern the man.

But he is now certain that the scammers were able to hack his cell phone.

At the beginning of the hearing, he made it clear that he himself had been cheated.

In conversation with the police, however, he had already stated that he had briefly considered that he might have been the victim of fraud.

Such inconsistencies made the court question the man's credibility.

Criminal activities accepted with approval

The fact that he nevertheless decided to transfer the money caused the public prosecutor to accuse him of having accepted the possible criminal machinations.

The intended use “invoice” should have made the accused suspicious.

The police officer summoned as a witness provided information about where the 25,000 euros came from.

A woman, who had often attracted attention because of her gullibility, was notified that she had won an internet sweepstakes.

However, in order to be able to collect the winnings, she would have had to transfer 25,000 euros.

These were then probably landed on the account of the accused.

However, she promptly asked for the money back.

It is thanks to the bank that the five-digit amount did not end up in the hands of the scammers.

The whole thing seemed strange to her.

The sum was not transferred.

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Not the first strange transaction

Incidentally, it was not the first time that the man had to do with strange transactions.

It had happened twice before.

The needy should always have been helped.

Also because he has no criminal record, the man was only sentenced to a fine of 150 daily rates of 50 euros each.

According to judge Stefanie Rainer, he was guilty of "frivolous money laundering".

The 31-year-old admitted his mistake and agreed with the court that going to the police immediately would have made more sense.

In the end, no significant damage was done.

The woman got her money back.