Mother helped Criminals steal £47k from Co-Op Bank Accounts

Mother-of-one Nafeesa Shabbir, aged 27, of Oldham, avoided a prison sentence after helping fraudsters steal over £47,000 from Co-Op Bank accounts.

Manchester Crown Court heard how she passed on security codes to the criminals.

Shabbir worked for Co-Op Bank as a customer adviser in a call centre. Within a matter of weeks, she helped criminals steal £47,902 from four business accounts.

She had started working for the bank in August 2017 following a period of training.

Her fraudulent behaviour lasted until the end of September 2017 when she was found out and later fired.

The police were called and they found a handwritten notebook in her car. It contained bank security codes belonging to 37 different customers.

Shabbir was prosecuted for her involvement in the fraudulent withdrawal of money from four accounts.

It was heard she would speak to the genuine account holder and take them through the usual security process but then would take note of their security details.

Prosecutor James Preece explained that criminals would call Shabbir at the bank at a later date when money would be fraudulently transferred.

The first offence involved £5,000 being withdrawn from an account belonging to a security firm.

A total of £19,000 had tried to be withdrawn but this was blocked.

Another firm’s account had a total of £15,440 stolen from them. Then £20,000 was withdrawn from a jeweller’s business account. A further £7,462 was taken from another firm’s account.

Two attempts were made to withdraw a total of £10,000 but these were unsuccessful.

The mother was prosecuted for fraud totalling £47,902. The money was later refunded to customers.

Shabbir, who has no previous convictions, was arrested in October 2017. She pleaded guilty to one count of fraud.

The court heard Shabbir took part in the fraud after being promised “one-off payments”, but she never received them.

No other arrests have been made in relation to the criminal operation, which involved “others higher up the hierarchy”.

Erimnaz Mushtaq, defending, said Shabbir’s offending had a “degree of naivety” and said her client was a single mother to a seven-year-old boy.

Ms Mushtaq stated Shabbir “understood what she was doing” and wasn’t “coerced”, but said her role was a “small one”.

She added that Shabbir was of “limited means” and was attracted by the offer of “quick money”, which she never received.

The court was told that Shabbir had been in an abusive relationship and took the risk in the operation but “gained none of the benefit”.

Ms Mushtaq insisted that jailing her client would cause “irreparable damage” to her son.

Shabbir found work as an assistant manager at a tutorial company and was an “invaluable member of staff”.

Ms Mushtaq appealed for Shabbir to be spared jail.

Judge David Stockdale QC told Shabbir: “Your role was low down in the criminal hierarchy.

“You were simply passing on the code numbers. But this is serious offending, as you now know.”

“You were a trusted employee. Bank employees obviously have access to confidential information such as security codes.

“If they pass the confidential information on to others with criminal intent, then that is a serious breach of the trust placed in employees such as you.

“Conduct of this kind looked at more widely undermines the banking system.

“Customers trust banks to look after their money and they trust employees of banks.

“It is conduct of people like you that undermines that trust.”

Manchester Evening News reported that Judge Stockdale spared the mother jail after becoming satisfied that her offending was not “sophisticated”.

Nafeesa Shabbir was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years.

She was ordered to complete 60 hours of unpaid work and 25 days of rehabilitation activity requirement.