Wedding scammer conned guests out of thousands

A wedding guest defrauded friends out of thousands of pounds that they gave her to book flights and accommodation for a ceremony in Thailand.

Natalie Green, 41, has been ordered to repay the money she scammed from several people - including the only bridesmaid.

The fraud only came to light days before Elaine and Marc Walker, from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, got married in 2022.

Elaine - whose mother ended up paying for the friends to fly out to Thailand for the ceremony - said the scam had tarnished her big day.

Green admitted forming a fraudulent scheme to obtain money by pretending to a total of 19 people that she would organise travel and accommodation for Thailand, and a lodge in Banff.

She received payments of £7,547 between January 2021 and August 2022.

At Peterhead Sheriff Court, Green was given a two year supervision order and told to pay back the remaining £5,697 due in compensation. She has already repaid £1,650.

Elaine Walker told BBC Scotland News that they only learned two days before they were due to fly to Thailand that the flights and accommodation had not been booked.

She had answered the phone to her bridesmaid after missing a number of calls from her friends.

“I couldn’t make out what she was saying because she was hysterically crying.

"My other friend Chevonne then said: 'Natalie has taken all the money and we have not been able to get anything booked'.

"I was just absolutely gobsmacked."

Chevonne Millar, who had been friends with Green for almost 10 years, said: "The arrangements started in 2021, so we all had time to save up money and put towards flights and accommodation.

"There were three of us who were single and travelling alone, so Natalie said: 'I am a student, you guys all work full time, I will help organise flights and accommodation, then you are only paying one person'.

"So we just started paying in instalments, bank transfers. The first was about £800 for the flights.”

Green – who described herself as “your friendly travel agent” - also told them that she needed money for accommodation on islands in Thailand and for the wedding resort itself.

Ms Millar said they did not suspect anything was wrong as they had been sent screenshots of what they thought were bookings.

"She did send photos as if we were going on flights. She put our names in and took a photo of that, but she just didn't push the button to pay for the flights. So she did send us confirmation but it was false."

Two days before the flights, Green confessed to another friend, who had booked her own travel. The friend then told Ms Millar – who had given her about £1,500.

"She hadn't booked anything, she had spent all the money,” she said.

"I was extremely upset that she could have broken my trust in that way. Then I was extremely angry. I phoned the police and reported it.

“I find it hard to trust now. It’s affected everything."

The bride and groom and some other guests were not caught up in the scam because they had booked their flights and accommodation separately.

But Mrs Walker said she was “dumbfounded” when she found out what had happened.

Her mum, Trish McPherson, ended up paying about £11,000 for friends’ flights to Thailand so they could be there on her daughter’s special day.

She was unable to attend her daughter’s wedding herself because she had just been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer and had been advised not to travel.

Mrs Walker said the fraud had badly affected what should have been the most perfect day of her life.

She added: “Once I landed in Thailand, I had a big, long message from Natalie saying how sorry she was, that she had ruined a friendship.

"When I got home there was a congratulations card through my letterbox from her. That was promptly chucked in the bin."

The court heard that Green was “remorseful and embarrassed” about what she had done, and accepted that she had lost friends as a result.

Her solicitor said she was suffering with debt and health issues.