A CON artist who opened internet bank accounts using identities she stole from social media sites is behind bars today.

Mother-of-ten Caroline Mcmohan pocketed more than £15,000 by transferring funds from the overdrafts into other accounts she had access to.

A judge said the case should serve as a warning to people about how much personal detail they give away on sites such as Facebook.

Mcmohan, 32, from Spennymoor, County Durham, sobbed as she was jailed for 14 months for 20 offences of fraud and money laundering.

In the midst of her six-week scam in the summer of 2013 she appeared in court for a separate offence of fraud by false representation.

Her barrister, Christopher Baker, admitted the crime was "repeated and persistent" but said Mcmohan was led into it by her brother.

Judge Howard Crowson told weeping Mcmohan yesterday: "Your previous conviction was gained during the commission of these offences."

Teesside Crown Court heard how Mcmohan opened 17 accounts in other people's names with online banking company First Direct.

Each time, she applied for an overdraft and tried - not always successfully - to move money into other existing accounts.

Victoria Lamballe, prosecuting, said sometime the bank realised her accounts were not genuine, or security systems blocked the deals.

Mcmohan - who has also been a surrogate mother for a friend - was said to have had a gambling problem, but she does not accept it.

An exercise book found at her home in Sledmore Drive contained the details of all the people she was pretending to be.

Mr Baker told the court: "It is repeated offending, it is persistent offending over a period of approximately six weeks.

"This is a lady who has suffered from depression for quite some time and it may be that the gambling habit that is referred to in the pre-sentence report offers some insight into far greater than her own into why these offences may have been committed.

"She says she doesn't have those problems now and it is only looking back in time that she accepts there may have been a problem.

"She is the mother of ten children. She was a surrogate mother for a friend, and that has caused her difficulties emotionally.

"She has fallen into criminality at a relatively late age. The defendant would say at the pushing of her more criminally-sophisticated brother."

Judge Crowson told Mcmohan, who admitted the offences at an earlier hearing: "You set about applying for bank accounts.

"You must have been planning to do so because you used the true identities of people whose information you had gained from social media sites, which may be a lesson for many people.

"All that was necessary was for you to act as them, either online or on the telephone to access the funds in each of those accounts."