CONMAN PLUNDERS SOLDIER'S ACCOUNT; Fatigues fraudster fools bank staff.

Byline: Rory Reynolds

A CONMAN has raided the bank account of a Scottish squaddie serving in Afghanistan for a second time.

The fraudster turned up at the city centre bank in full Army gear.

And he fooled staff into handing over cash from Private Daniel Lawson's savings using the soldier's stolen ID.

The 22-year-old's account had been frozen several months ago after it was plundered by a thief for the first time.

But the crook convinced staff at Abbey in Dundee to let him take out pounds 500.

Slammed Daniel is normally based with the Royal Scots Borderers at Dreghorn Barracks in Edinburgh.

He volunteered to go to Afghanistan to support soldiers from the Black Watch he met in Iraq.

Military Police were helping in the investigation of the theft in case the conman turned out to be a soldier.

He was caught on CCTV in Dundee wearing the military fatigues.

Banking giants Abbey were previously slammed after the first theft of pounds 1625 from Daniel's account.

Bank bosses said they wouldn't freeze Daniel's account unless he contacted them in person.

But he was too busy fighting the Taliban to make a phone call.

Daniel found out his modest private's salary had been stolen just after he had been in a ferocious firefight with the Afghan rebels.

His dad John, a Christian missionary worker from Edinburgh, said he couldn't believe the culprit might be another soldier. He said: "If this is a serving soldier, then it's despicable and cowardly.

"He must know what's happening to his mates in Afghanistan and he's back here stealing their wages."

He added: "Taking advantage of a colleague serving abroad would be the lowest of the low."

A spokesman for Abbey said: "We have recently had monies withdrawn again, fraudulently, from the account of Private Lawson, this time from a different Abbey branch.

Stolen "The fraudster has been using genuine ID stolen from Private Lawson, as well as dressing in full military uniform to convince branch staff that they are indeed our customer and have, therefore, been able to withdraw funds.

"We have also talked to all of our branches in Scotland to ensure they are aware of this fraudster's actions and to make sure this does not happen again.

"We have refunded the money taken and we have also given the customer pounds 150 in compensation and refunded the costs of his father's phone calls."

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VICTIM: Private Lawson