A man and woman are facing several fraud charges in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate’s court after allegedly defrauding several students of the University of Technology (UTech) of more that $1 million.

The two, Debbie-Ann Wray and Jason Steba, both of Kingston 20, have been charged with conspiracy to defraud, forgery, obtaining money by means of false pretences and uttering forged documents.

The court was told this week that on several occasions earlier in the year, both accused approached several UTech students and told them that they could assist them in paying their tuition fees.

Wray and Steba allegedly told the students to entrust them with whatever monies they had accumulated to pay their tuition, and that they (the accused) would then find the balance.

The two allegedly gave the students receipts endorsed with National Commercial Bank stamps, which the court was told were fraudulent, and told students that the university’s bursary had received the tuition payments.

It was subsequently discovered that no money had been lodged to the university’s account on behalf of the students.

The students then contacted the police and Wray and Steba were arrested.

The police told the court that up to the time of their arrest Wray and Steba had defrauded over $1 million from the students.