KINGSTON, Jamaica — After narrowly escaping trial in a larceny by trick case, a 20-year-old man is now assisting prosecutors to nab the alleged mastermind behind a fake online banking receipt scam.

The young man appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Friday on larceny charges after he allegedly agreed to purchase an iPhone for $45,000 and provided an online banking receipt, forwarded through WhatsApp, proving that he had transferred the money to the seller’s bank account.

The seller, another young man who also appeared in court, reportedly handed over the cellphone in good faith and only found out later that the receipt was forged and the transfer had never been completed.

Appearing alongside his sister and his mother, who stayed out of the courtroom citing stress and blood pressure issues, the accused pleaded not guilty, claiming that he “had not been the one to create the receipt”.

The case would have been sent to trial as the judge deemed the young man’s response was, at best, an excuse not a defence, especially as he had still sent the fake receipt to the seller.

Under questioning he revealed that a person known to him had committed the act.

With assistance from an attorney present in court, as ordered by the judge, the young man provided evidence including texts between himself and that alleged mastermind.

The attorney confirmed to Observer Online that the accused had actually given the money to the reported architect of the fake receipt to transfer to the victim.

That evidence, along with the fact that the phone was handed back over to the seller with money to pay for damage incurred while it was in the possession of the accused and his promise of assistance, persuaded the prosecution to enter no evidence against him in the larceny case.

They are now hoping to catch the suspected manufacturer of the fraudulent receipt described in court as a “scam artist”.

The judge, in releasing the young man, stressed that he had gotten lucky and warned him to be cautious of online friendships and transactions.

— Dana Malcolm