A man has admitted scamming his family and a childhood friend out of nearly £18,000 to feed his “crippling gambling habit”.
Christopher Forbes, 29, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court facing charges that he had taken advantage of his close relationships to commit fraud between February 2018 and June 2019.
In one instance, Forbes convinced a pal to give him an initial loan that he managed to increase to just over £14,000 through deception.
He also pretended he would lease a piece of machinery from his employer to a family member in exchange for personal payments totalling nearly £4,000.
Forbes has yet to repay any of the money.
He pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud.
The court heard that the 29-year-old first obtained a £2,000 loan from his close friend, before asking for greater and greater sums of money.
It was stated that Forbes “pretended” he was in a position to repay the loan upon the payment of further sums via a bank transfer but he had no intention of repaying the cash.
In the second charge, Forbes is accused of taking personal payments for the loan of machinery he had no intention of leasing.
He also didn’t put the order through the company’s books.
Accused ‘took advantage’ of close relationships
His defence agent John Hardie said: “At the time of these offences Mr Forbes had what we can describe as a crippling gambling habit.
“Both of those in the charges are people close to him – one was a friend since childhood and another was a member of his extended family.
“He accepts that he took advantage of that and essentially parlayed that into something much more significant.
“His position is that he was telling himself at the time that he would pay it all back – but he was simply being dishonest with himself, just as much as he was with his friends.”
Mr Hardie also explained that Forbes – who has since left his job with the machinery leasing company – has now got a hold of his gambling addiction.
But added that he was not in a position to repay any of the cash.
‘You will need to make amends for what you’ve done’
Sheriff Kevin Duffy told Forbes: “You are a 29-year-old first offender. But for a first offence this is pretty serious and one that involved a significant amount of dishonesty towards the people involved and a significant amount of money.
“I have listened to your background and about this gambling addiction, which is how all this came about.
“I do accept that this is very much out of character for you, but you’ll have to build bridges with those involved who were close to you at the time.
“You will need to make amends somehow in any way you can for what you’ve done.”
Sheriff Duffy sentenced Forbes, of Moir Green, Aberdeen, to a community payback order with 12 months of supervision and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
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