A BRADFORD mother who was paid by sophisticated scammers to help to defraud a man out of £40,000 from his pension pot has been spared an immediate jail sentence.

Hungarian national Adrien Kiss was given £100 to allow her bank account to be used to launder the stolen money, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Kiss, 32, of Christopher Terrace, Little Horton, Bradford, at first denied any knowledge of the fraud, prosecuting barrister Jessica Heggie said.

Kiss, who was supposed to be assisted by an interpreter but she couldn’t seem to get on the court CVP link, pleaded guilty on the day of her trial.

She admitted allowing her bank account to be used in May 2020 to launder the stolen money.

Miss Heggie said the victim’s email account was hacked into and fraudulent contact was made with his finance management company asking for an urgent withdrawal from a mixture of different funds.

The company asked for a bank statement and a fake HSBC document was provided.

The court heard that the money was transferred to Kiss’s account and then sent abroad.

She was paid £100 to let the fraudsters use her bank details.

“She was a cog in the wheel of very sophisticated fraudulent activity,” Miss Heggie stated.

The court heard that the victim had not received a penny of compensation. All the plundered money was still outstanding.

Judge Colin Burn said it was ‘a pretty sad state of affairs’ that had allowed the cash to be siphoned off using hacked emails and a fake bank account.

Kiss had allowed the scammers to use her bank account, agreeing to receive £100.

“You knew what you were doing and you were expecting to make some small amount of money out of it,” Judge Burn said.

The victim had lost £40,000 from his pension funds in what was ‘a pretty appalling situation.’ Kiss was sentenced to ten months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

Judge Burn said the probation service had decided that immediate jail would be disproportionate. Kiss was a mother and her health would suffer in prison.

She must pay £250 compensation to the victim at £25 month.

Judge Burn said it was ‘an almost derisory amount’ bearing in mind the man’s loss but Kiss had very limited means and she wasn’t paid a large amount to facilitate the fraud.

She must attend ten rehabilitation activity requirement days and do 120 hours of unpaid work.