HSBC Managers stole £1m from Wealthy Customers’ Accounts

Two corrupt HSBC managers have been jailed for a total of 12 years and seven months after they stole nearly £1 million from wealthy customers’ accounts.

Mohammed Uddin and Gerald Sarpong worked at branches in Notting Hill and Birmingham, 120 miles apart.

However, they conspired with other unknown criminals, sending them the details of seven individuals whose life savings were stolen.

Inner London Crown Court heard that between January 2018 and October 2018, a total of £936,565 was stolen.

HSBC’s internal security checks spotted the scam and it was referred to the dedicated card and payment crime unit, a specialist police team sponsored by the banking and finance industry.

On July 10, 2018, police arrested corporate accounts manager Sarpong at the bank’s branch in Edmund Street, Birmingham.

Officers searched his desk and found a mobile phone containing messages sent to Uddin with customer information.

A week later, a search warrant was executed at Uddin’s home. Detectives discovered digital devices and documents.

Both men pleaded guilty to defraud.

Detective Sergeant Ben Hobbs, of the DCPCU, said:

“Sarpong and Uddin acted with impunity, thinking they could get away with committing over £900,000 of fraud.

“This case shows that anyone who is caught abusing the trust placed in them by their employer will be punished.”

Mohammed Uddin, aged 30, of Bethnal Green, London, was jailed for six years and eight months.

Gerald Sarpong, aged 33, of Chigwell, Essex, was sentenced to five years and 11 months in prison.

A HSBC UK spokesperson said:

“HSBC has robust measures in place to deter and detect… fraudulent activity.

“Abusing a position of trust is taken extremely seriously with harsh penalties for those seeking to benefit from criminal activity.

“HSBC has zero-tolerance for staff fraud and we fully support the police and prosecutions in such matters.”

All the victims of the fraud were fully refunded by the bank.

In a previous case, a banker from West Yorkshire betrayed his position of trust at Santander by passing on customer account details to his accomplices.

Companies in Newcastle, Gateshead and around the UK were targeted by the conmen, who bought items using the card details of unsuspecting bank customers.

Businesses were scammed out of £90,000 and it left them out of pocket.

The stolen money was spent on expensive jewellery and extravagant holidays.

Bilal Abbas was jailed for two years.

Umair Memom was jailed for 27 months and also received a 12-month driving ban.

Jordan Hamilton-Thomas was jailed for 26 months.