A MAN lodging with his ex-girlfriend's father applied for credit cards in the older man's name and used them to withdraw cash and to bet on internet gambling sites.
Liam Anthony Steele, 24, of Sugham Lane, Heysham, pleaded guilty to nine charges of committing fraud by false representation between August 20 and October 2 last year when he appeared at Lancaster Magistrates' Court.
The court heard that Steele wa
s living with Morris Carter, his ex-girlfriend's father, who discovered that unauthorised withdrawals were made from his MBNA credit card.
Mr Carter also found out that credit cards for Lloyds TSB, MBNA bank and Goldfish had been set up in his name.
He knew that Steele had a gambling addiction and that some of the financial uses of the cards were for online gambling sites.
After Steele was arrested in October 2007 he made a full confession to the offences and admitted that he had a gambling addiction.
He told police that whilst he was living with Mr Carter for three months as a lodger at his Acre Moss Lane home, the aggrieved had left a credit card and PIN number in the kitchen and Steele used it on numerous occasions to withdraw cash.
He applied for a Goldfish credit card to pay off the MBNA card and also used an Abbey National card and a Lloyds TSB card, mostly for telephone betting.
The fraud accounted for between £10,000 and £20,000.
Defending, Jonathan Jack-son told the court that it was a systematic and sophisticated fraud over time.
Steele was ordered to appear at Lancaster Crown Court for sentence on May 19.
