A veterinary hospital employee has plead guilty to stealing $680,000 from the company to play an online gambling game — the kicker here is that the game would never have paid out with actual cash.
As per the report from ABC, Rachel Naomi Perri, an accounts manager from Tasmania, Australia, was dead set on Heart of Vegas, a mobile gambling game that rewarded its players with virtual currency. As a result, none of the actual cash that its players paid into the game would ever return to their accounts. Perri overlooked that fact when she continually drew funds from her employer to use in the game.
Between 2016 and 2019, Perri completed 475 fraudulent transactions to a number of bank accounts, credit cards and personal loans in her name, amounting to a total of AUD$940,221(about USD$680,000). "I got myself into so much trouble but decided I'd keep going until [I] got caught," said Perri in her police interview, and she immediately told the officers that she was guilty of fraud when the anomalous transactions were flagged by police.
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Her lawyer explained that Perri has a history of addiction starting from when she was only 18 years old. Heart of Vegas, with its "real Vegas slot machines just like the ones you know and love," compelled her to spend more and more. "She got so addicted that she'd play it first thing in [the] morning," said her lawyer, adding that she would leave it active overnight while she slept. Her fraudulent transactions from her employer to her personal financial accounts stopped when she was made redundant.
Perri has been charged with “25 counts of computer-related fraud and one count of fraud.” Furthermore, a forensic psychiatrist ultimately diagnosed her with a severe gambling disorder and she has started therapy for her wellbeing. The prosecution said that her actions were “planned, calculated systematic conduct” and Perri “employed multiple accounting [techniques and the books were] consistently balanced.” It is extremely unlikely that the veterinary hospital will ever see the funds returned by Perri herself.
Featured Image Credit: Product Madness, Sharon McCutcheon via UnsplashTopics: Mobile Games