I conned people out of THOUSANDS

Former scammer Jodie Gayet is now using her past to help others fight against fraudsters

- MISHAAL KHAN

After reading my story, most people won't be sympathetic. You'll probably think I'm an awful person and deserved every punishment I received. I would agree with you. After all, I spent years scamming people, lying to them and conning them out of thousands of pounds. Sympathy certainly isn't what I am looking for. But while I can't make up for what I've done, or change it, I hope that by sharing my story I can stop people falling prey to people like me before it is too late.

I was just 18 years old when, in summer 2008, I won £33,000 online. Of course, it was a fluke win, but that's not what I thought at the time. I quit my job as a bank cashier, moved into a bigger house and splashed out on new furniture. I was careless with money and before long it was all gone and I had to take out loans and credit cards to keep up with payments for everything.

Things spiralled and within three months, I was back living with my parents again and working at a building society. But, having had a taste of money, I wanted more and temptation got the better of me. I started stealing from dormant bank accounts while I was at work, transferring money into my own account. You might ask how I could do such a thing? But I reasoned that as nobody had used the accounts in over 10 years, nobody would miss the money and I'd pay it back eventually, somehow. Of course it was the wrong attitude, but at the time, all I could think about was the money.