A woman has been ordered to pay out more than £5,000 after ordering 211 takeaways using someone else’s card details.
As crimes go, it’s a pretty niche one but no less illegal than robbing something from someone’s house.
24-year-old Brittany Narbert, from Dereham in Norfolk, appeared at Norwich Magistrates Court last week – 21 September, to be precise – having pleaded guilty to 14 counts of fraud through false representation.
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And that’s just a small fraction of her supposed crimes, with another 197 counts having also been taken into consideration.
Basically, Narbert acquired the victim’s card details after he'd visited her house and suggested that they get a takeaway using UberEats.
During that process, Narbert was given the bank details of the victim in order to pay for a meal, and afterwards saved them to the app, meaning that she could order hundreds of takeaways over the months that followed, eventually spending a total of £5,772.80 on the app.
This all took place between June 2021 and October 2022, and would have continued longer had another friend not realised what was happening and informed the victim that Narbert was using his details, after which he contacted the police.
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When the investigating officers turned up at Narbert’s house, she said that she had not knowingly used the victim’s card, claiming that the whole thing was an accident.
However, the court didn’t agree, and she was sentenced last Thursday to 20 days of rehabilitative activity requirement, a 12-month mental health treatment programme, and ordered to pay the victim £5,772.80 in compensation.
You might notice that the amount is the exact same as how much was charged to the victim’s card.
Hopefully, that will sort things out for the victim, who has obviously been left seriously out of pocket after this ordeal.
You’d have to imagine that he might think twice before offering to pay for a meal again when with a friend.
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Who can blame him, really?
After the sentencing, Duncan Etchells, the supervisor of the Operation Converter team from Norfolk Constabulary, said: “Narbett had been using the victim’s card details for over a year and cost him nearly £6,000.
“I am pleased that the victim will now receive this money back through compensation and hope that the measures put in place will prevent Narbett from reoffending and allow her to move forward.”
Let that be a lesson to you – never give your card details out to someone who you aren’t sure you can trust.
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Even then, you want to be careful.
It’s a dangerous game, putting your card details out there, even if it is only for an UberEats.
Topics: Food And Drink, UK News, Crime
Tom Wood