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Extra detention for on-line fraud
A Trade Me fraudster has admitted an extra charge of computer crime and had another month added to the community detention sentence she received in July.
Defence counsel for 23-year-old Shannon Marie Cleave-Harvey, Kirsty May, said the latest charge occurred before she was sentenced for similar offending in July, but the charge was laid by police afterwards.
Cleave-Harvey accessed Trade Me?s computer system by deception when she offered to sell items which she did not have.
She approached the buyers on-line or by text after accessing part of the system where she obtained contact numbers, then had her own Trade Me listing withdrawn.
On January 6 a person placed an advertisement on Trade Me looking to buy a vehicle, and Cleave-Harvey sent him a text message saying she had one for sale at $1500.
The victim deposited $1500 into her bank account, but the vehicle did not exist and was never in her possession.
At a Christchurch District Court session at Nga Hau e Wha marae Judge Phil Gittos said Cleave-Harvey was on a current sentence of community detention, but the reparation amount for the latest charge meant the previous offending was not as serious as this one.
He sentenced her to a further one month of community detention and ordered a reparation payment of $1500.
