Student allowed bank account to be used to launder money
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A YOUNG Carlow woman who allowed her bank account to be used as a conduit for over €12,000 in fraudulent transactions linked to a nationwide social welfare fraud scheme has been told she will learn her fate next week.
Dion Timmons (23), 1 Chaffe Street, Graiguecullen, Carlow appeared before Judge Mary Morrissey at Carlow Circuit Court on Thursday 26 February, having previously pleaded guilty to a single count on the indictment under section 7 of the .
The court heard that in 2022, an investigation in Letterkenny, Co Donegal uncovered a large-scale fraud operation by a criminal organisation against the Department of Social Protection, in which illegally obtained PPS numbers were used to extract money from unsuspecting individuals, with €350 taken from each of 19 victims.
Garda Shiel, who was sworn in and gave evidence, told the court that as a result of that Letterkenny investigation, a number of individuals connected to the fraud were identified, with alerts subsequently issued to garda stations nationwide.
An N26 online bank account was opened in the defendant’s name on 8 March 2022. A small number of transactions – €4.90 and €20 – were made and debited shortly after the account was opened, after which it lay dormant until April 2022. Between 5 and 28 of that month, 19 transactions of €350 each were credited into the account, along with four further deposits of €1,904.52, €1,890, €950 and €980 – the latter transactions relating to injured parties residing in Germany rather than to the Department of Social Protection.
In total, €12,374.64 passed through the account before it was closed by the bank on 28 April 2022 due to suspicion over the origin of the funds. The court heard all the money was ultimately transferred via PaySafe payment solutions into a cryptocurrency account on Binance, routed through Luxembourg.
In cross-examination, the defence barrister established that Ms Timmons was just 19 years of age at the time of the offence, that it was her first time being arrested and her first time in a garda station and that she entered a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity. The barrister put it to Garda Shiel that her client had been “stressed, vulnerable and anxious” at the time of her arrest.
“It’s not a nice thing to be arrested, and arrested for the first time,” the garda acknowledged, adding that the process had been properly explained to the defendant in relation to the offence of money laundering.
The barrister confirmed that Ms Timmons “did not benefit personally from the sum of monies as a result of the transactions”.
Garda Shiel replied: “I know that uniformly today, but I didn’t know (at the time).”
The barrister also asked the garda to accept that there was “a bigger picture here” and “a bigger network of people in control of this criminal activity”. Garda Shiel agreed that the Donegal investigation had established that such networks rely on individuals to open bank accounts, noting that this particular account had been “opened on 8 March 2022 with transactions moving fast within and throughout”, before being shut down within two months.
The garda confirmed that Ms Timmons had not come to adverse garda attention either before or since the incident and that she had abided by all bail conditions and had never been late to court.
Garda Shiel also noted that the Department of Social Protection had not furnished a victim impact statement but stressed the real-world impact on those whose PPS numbers had been misused. “Without their knowledge, a person has claimed money they never received, never sees the money, but they are on the department’s books as receiving it while working full-time,” he said, explaining the impact of this kind of fraud.
“People are having difficulties getting their affairs back in order for tax purposes or whatever it may be.”
In mitigation, the defence told the court that Ms Timmons has lived in Carlow all her life. She is currently in her second year at Carlow College and works part time at a local restaurant, with a long-term ambition to qualify as an educational psychologist. Her studies had been put on hold as a result of the offence and subsequent court appearances, but she has since returned and is, the court heard, doing well.
The defence outlined a difficult personal background, including a complex family environment marked by domestic violence and abuse and an estrangement from her father spanning approximately a decade, with brief contact around the time of her grandfather’s death – a period which coincided with the offending. That re-engagement had not had a positive impact on her life and contact has since ceased.
The defence submitted that Ms Timmons had been going through a period of emotional instability at the time and, while not seeking to use those circumstances as an excuse, they were relevant in understanding her capacity to assess risk and criminality.
In a letter penned to the court, Ms Timmons explained that she had been approached by someone she regarded as a friend, who suggested the arrangement and assured her it was not illegal. She said she had no understanding at the time of the level of criminality involved or the harm it would cause and that, had she known, she would never have agreed. It was only upon her arrest that she became aware of the full extent of the fraudulent activity that had passed through her account.
A probation report, prepared following her arraignment on 11 November 2025, indicated that Ms Timmons had engaged fully with the probation services and had taken full advantage of the supports offered. Probation officers concluded that her offending appeared situational rather than indicative of established criminal behaviour and that she was at the lowest risk of reoffending. The report noted that she suffers from anxiety and depression, for which she is receiving treatment from her GP.
The defence submitted that she was deserving of a non-custodial sentence and a letter of apology was handed to the court.
Judge Morrissey said she required time to consider all matters and that she would finalise the case the following week.
