Kildare resident made fraudulent purchases at Brown Thomas
Photo for illustrative purposes
A 47-YEAR-old woman with a Kildare address who made full admissions after gardaí found Brown Thomas purchases in her home has been remanded on bail for a probation report after Carlow District Court heard she faced multiple charges of fraudulent transactions totalling over €2,000.
Wuraola Alabi, 142 Branswood, Athy appeared before Judge Geraldine Carthy in connection with a series of fraudulent online transactions carried out on a victim’s bank account between 26-29 June 2025.
The court heard that on 1 July 2025, Bank of Ireland contacted customer Michael McGreal after detecting unusual activity on his account. Mr McGreal did not recognise a number of the transactions. The bank also contacted gardaí to alert them to the suspicious activity and a statement was subsequently obtained from Mr McGreal.
Gardaí established that there had initially been ten fraudulent transactions on the account, including online clothing purchases from Brown Thomas and purchases made at Dublin Airport. A further seven transactions, amounting to €840, were also attempted. In total, 17 fraudulent transactions were identified, with a combined value of €2,289.04.
On 2 July, Detective Kieran Shields applied for a section 52 order at Carlow District Court, which was executed at the Bank of Ireland on the same day. The following day, the bank provided gardaí with a full breakdown of activity on the account. A search warrant was subsequently applied for on 10 July and an authorised search of Ms Alabi’s home was carried out.
When gardaí attended the property on 11 July, Ms Alabi was present, co-operated with the search and showed officers a number of items from Brown Thomas that had been purchased using a fraudulent debit card. She was arrested and made full admissions.
Ms Alabi’s solicitor told the court that her client had no previous convictions and had never previously been in trouble.
She also applied for legal aid, backdated to December 2025, noting that Ms Alabi was a mother of college-going children.
Judge Carthy directed that a probation report be prepared, with a view to finalising matters in June.
