Two ATM scammers have been sentenced for a card-skimming scheme that saw a former St Johstone footballer conned out of hundreds of pounds.
Alexandru Uzum and Eduard Zamosteanu admitted installing a “card trapping” device and a camera on an ATM in Scone.
Former Saints player Nathan Lowndes, who is now a police officer, had his details stolen after using the Perth Road machine.
The two fraudsters were previously banned from Denmark for six years after being convicted of a similar offence in the Scandinavian country.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard that Mr Lowndes was returning from a night out and stopped at an ATM in Scone to withdraw cash to pay for his taxi fare.
When the machine failed to return his bank card, he assumed it was faulty, but received a text from his bank the next day asking him to contact them about suspicious transactions on his account.
The two accused were later spotted on CCTV and traced.
Zamosteanu admitted possessing the card trapping device between May 20 and June 9.
It was then installed at the Scone ATM by Uzum and Zamosteanu on May 20 – with Zamosteanu then using it to steal the former striker’s PIN number and bank card.
Uzum then used the stolen details to operate an ATM and steal £200.
Uzum later installed the device again at the same machine on May 28 to prevent bank cards from being ejected by the machine in a bid to steal a bank card and PIN number.
Uzum, 25, Oxgangs Park, Edinburgh, and Zamosteanu, 27, a prisoner Perth, previously pled guilty to three charges apiece at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Alistair Carmichael told Zamosteanu: “I have concluded that because of the nature of this offence and your previous conviction for a similar matter, that a custodial sentence is the only appropriate sentence.
“Mr Uzum, you are in a different situation and I can deal with you by means of a community disposal.”
Zamosteanu was jailed for 41 weeks and Uzum ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.
Nathan Lowndes, 38, signed for St Johnstone in 1998 and became a firm fans’ favourite on their run to third place in the league and the League Cup Final in his first season at the Perth side.
He later moved to various English sides – but returned to Scotland to set up home in Perthshire upon his retirement from football.