Bank charges success: THE WRONG WAY

[natweststaffmember]

Bank worker cancelled family’s overdraft charges

Woman admits committing £700 fraud

By Jamie Buchan
Published: 22/11/2008
A bank worker lost her job after bosses caught her cancelling hundreds of pounds’ worth of overdraft charges from her family’s accounts, a court heard yesterday.
Jo-Anne Stott illegally deleted more than £700 worth of due payments over more than a year-and-a-half while working at the Peterhead branch of Lloyds TSB.
The bank launched an internal investigation to determine why the charges had disappeared.
All staff were interviewed during the inquiry by the TSB’s fraud-investigation team.
The discrepancies, which were first picked up during a review of records, were eventually traced back to Stott, who had worked at the branch for 15 years.
Her contract was ter- minated and police were called.
Yesterday Stott, of 55 Brent Field Circle, Ellon, appeared at Peterhead Sheriff Court and admitted committing £700 worth of fraud by using bank computers to delete charges.
The offence she admitted was significantly reduced from the original charge of taking nearly £18,000 from bank and credit card accounts.
Fiscal Sandy Hutchison said Stott had been in a position in which she could access the computer and delete or restrict charges.
The court heard she had been overseeing her own account and accounts for members of her family, which was against bank rules.
Stott struggled to find a new job but has re- cently found work in retail.
While out of work she amassed more debts, the court was told.
Sheriff Marysia Lewis told her: “You were in a position of trust and you broke that trust.”
Sentence was deferred for background reports until December 18.
The sheriff advised Stott to start saving for a possible compensation order. She added that she was not considering sending the first offender to jail.

Source: Bank worker cancelled family’s overdraft charges - Press Journal

[Amethyst]

Re: Bank charges success: THE WRONG WAY

I was wondering where the £18000 part had come into it.

Previous story

By Jamie Buchan
Published: 08/08/2008
A BANK worker accused of taking nearly £18,000 from bank and credit-card accounts will stand trial later this year.
Jo-Ann Stott is alleged to have used a family member’s name to change her existing account and increase its overdraft facility.
She is also accused of using a credit card in the name of another relative to withdraw cash, and also setting up a new bank account, again using the name of a member of her family.
The 32-year-old was represented during a brief hearing at Peterhead Sheriff Court yesterday by a local solicitor.
She denies the single charge against her, that between February 2005 and October last year, she withdrew cash from bank accounts, transferred money and used a credit card in the name of a family member to obtain £17,926.30 by fraud.
The offence is alleged to have happened at the Lloyd’s TSB branch in Queen Street, Peterhead.
Stott resigned from the bank in November last year after an internal investigation.
Stott, of 55 Brent Field Circle, Ellon, did not appear at court yesterday. She was represented by local solicitor Ian Jane. A trial date is set for November 21, with an intermediate hearing on November 5.