"Ahmed and Nadeem both claimed they were under duress"
Two former Barclays Bank workers illegally transferred money from a dead man’s account as part of a grand scheme seeing almost £150,000 stolen from customers.
Offenders, Waseem Ahmed, 22, and Hodaif Nadeem, 22, moved thousands of pounds from customer’s accounts into ‘mule’ accounts while employed at branches in Slough and Bracknell.
Ahmed and Nadeem were also seen giving large sums of money to people who were not the account holders. This part of the con took place between April and May 2017.
During the last week of July 2017, the pair opened another five bank accounts at several different banks.
Initially, these accounts remained inactive. This was until Ahmed’s accounts were used to direct £29,030 of the stolen money. It was clear Nadeem’s accounts were never used.
The scam of the former bank workers was discovered after Ahmed, of Lismore Park in Slough, moved over £40,000 from a deceased man’s account.
Barclays Bank reported this incident to Thames Valley Police. Ahmed was arrested in August 2018 and Nadeem detained in January 2019. The duo was charged with the crimes they committed in August 2018.
On December 20, 2019, Reading Crown Court sentence Ahmed and Nadeem who were unanimously found guilty after a trial in November 2019.
Nadeem, of Telford Drive in Slough, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud. He was also charged with one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property using fraudulent money transfers.
The jury found Ahmed guilty of the same charges as Nadeem. However, Ahmed was also charged with one count of unauthorised access to a computer.
The investigating officer, Detective Constable Rob Gibson condemned the acts of Ahmed and Nadeem. He said:
“The sentences handed down by the court reflects the seriousness of the crimes committed by Waseem Ahmed and Hodaif Nadeem.
“As bank employees, they were meant to look after the interests of the bank and its customers; their actions completely betrayed that trust and caused distress to a number of customers.
“Although the means used to select victims was never established, they were generally elderly and, or based overseas customers.
“Ahmed and Nadeem had full access to customers’ bank accounts and there was nothing that the victims could have done to prevent their accounts being defrauded.
“The most despicable act concerned Ahmed who raided the bank account of a man whom he knew was deceased, thereby holding up probate for his grieving relatives.”
Gibson continued to mention how Ahmed attained the login details of a former staff member to usurp more funds. He explained:
“During the early part of August 2017, Ahmed obtained the work login details for a former colleague which he intended to use to commit further frauds.
“Thankfully, this colleague alerted the bank which prevented any further loss to customers.”
“Despite being caught out by their employees and despite having been arrested on 8 August 2017, Ahmed committed further offences by allowing bank accounts he held in his name to be used to funnel several thousand pounds worth of stolen funds.
“It was clear the accounts owned by Nadeem had been opened for the same purpose.
“During the trial, while committing these offences but this was rejected by the jury who found them unanimously guilty.
“The defendants had ample opportunity to tell the police if they were being threatened, yet they did not raise this as a defence until January this year (2019).”
Gibson continued to show his gratitude for the co-operation he received from the Barclays Special investigation team. He stated:
“I would like to thank the staff at Barclays Special Investigation team whose hard work and co-operation were instrumental in securing the convictions for fraud.”
According to Berkshire Live, the former bank workers were sentenced for their crimes.
Ahmed received four and a half years in prison while Nadeem was jailed for three and a half years.
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