Kirkby call centre worker in £250,000 fraud
Feb 26 2010 Liverpool Echo
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A CALL centre worker stole more than £250,000 from bank customers in a joint conspiracy with her boyfriend.
Rachel Jeffers worked at a Kirkby call centre used by Halifax/Bank of Scotland (HBOS) when she accessed personal details of customers to steal the money.
Her co-conspirator, Eugene Johnson, would call Jeffers pretending to be a legitimate customer.
This allowed Jeffers to access personal details to commit the fraud.
The largest single amount, £250,000, was stolen from a customer based in Croydon and put into a bank account in Romania.
This followed a smaller amount of £2,500 belonging to another customer being transferred to Johnson’s own bank account.
At Liverpool crown court Judge David Aubrey, QC, described Jeffers, 23, as “a thoroughly manipulative, devious and dishonest young woman.”
He said it was clear she had manipulated Johnson, 19, to take part in the fraud.
Sentencing Jeffers to three years and four months’ imprisonment, he said her sentence would have been longer if she was not seven months’ pregnant.
She was convicted last week of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
Jeffers, of Woodvale Road, Croxteth, had told the jury she was forced into committing the fraud by Johnson, of Hargate Walk, Kirkby, who had threatened to kill her if she didn’t.
But Judge Aubrey told her: “I have no doubt whatsoever that no duress of any nature was placed upon you.
“You were employed in a high position of trust and you significantly breached that trust.
“After the sum of £2,500 was dishonestly obtained and transferred into your co-accused’s bank account, you significantly ‘upped the ante’ and £250,000 was transferred from an account into an account in Romania.
“One does not know the background and full extent of this conspiracy, who was actually behind the scenes and to whom the money was ultimately destined for in Romania.
“But I have no doubt whatsoever you were a leading light in this conspiracy.
“You are an accomplished liar and sought to hide behind a veneer of frailty. It did not work.”
The court heard that co-accused Johnson was a paranoid schizophrenic and had been “used and manipulated” during the course of the conspiracy. He was given a two-year community order.
A spokesperson for the bank said: “Fraud is not tolerated by the bank. We worked closely with the police to assist them in bringing this case to justice and are pleased the efforts of all involved have helped secure a conviction.
“The customers affected have been fully refunded and are not out of pocket as a result.”
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