Man jailed for scam of buying golf equipment and then cancelling payment
Sonya McLean
A man who was involved in a scam that involved contacting various golf clubs to purchase equipment and then withdrawing the payment instructions with his bank has been jailed for fraud.
Harpreet Gosal (33), of Parlaunt Road, Langley, Slough, England, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four counts of dishonestly inducing someone to sell golf equipment at various dates in March and April 2024.
The golf clubs involved were Beaverstown Golf Club, Stackstown Golf Club, both in Dublin and Powerscourt Golf Club in Co Wicklow.
Garrett McCormack BL, prosecuting, said the equipment varied in value from €2,000 to up to €10,000 and included electric caddies, drivers, a set of irons and golf balls.
Judge Martin Nolan said Gosal and his accomplice had “a scam” in which they contacted various clubs, “arranged for the purchase and then withdrew instructions for the banks to pay”.
There is a bench warrant out for his co-accused’s arrest.
Gosal came forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on signed pleas of guilty from the District Court.
Judge Nolan accepted that Gosal was a pleasant man who was able to “con people out of various money”. He set a headline sentence of four years before he jailed Gosal for two and half years.
The court heard that Gosal adopted the same modus operandi which involved him calling the various golf clubs, ordering the equipment, paying for it over the phone and organising either for it to picked up or delivered.
He used the same name in some of the transactions.
Mr McCormack said that on Gosal’s arrest, gardaí dialled the number that had contacted some of the clubs and Gosal’s phone rang. Nothing of significance came out of Gosal’s subsequent interview with gardaí and the equipment was never recovered.
It was accepted that Gosal’s 48 previous convictions, which are all from England, relate to public order and drug offences representative of a chaotic background.
Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, defending, said his client has since taken steps to turn his life around and his parents believe he is committed to turning his life around.
Counsel said his client’s parents had written a letter for the court in which they described their son as a man who has “never lost his compassion for others” and said he previously engaged in charitable work for homeless people.