Manager charged in $35m NCB fraud
AN OPERATIONS manager of the National Commercial Bank (NCB) has been arrested and charged with larceny as a servant after investigations by the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime (C-TOC) Branch yesterday uncovered fraud involving $35 million.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) on Thursday evening reported on Twitter that Andrea Gordon, 52, was taken into custody after investigations by C-TOC detectives revealed that funds had been “fleeced from the institution”.
Gordon was interviewed by detectives in the presence of her attorney, a police source confirmed.
Earlier in the afternoon, NCB staffers who were not authorised to speak on the issue, said that Gordon was a senior manager in the technology division of the bank. Employees became aware of the development through the grapevine as the police moved in when many employees had already left for home.
Financial institutions have been struggling with bank fraud, the scope of which is not fully captured by official banking and police data, a security executive with knowledge of the industry told The Gleaner.
“Internal fraud in many financial institutions is costing as much as what the scammers are costing Jamaica,” the source said.
“But the institutions, especially the banks, are not talking because if the consistency and totals were to be honestly revealed, people would lose confidence in the institutions.”
The security executive said that banks and other financial institutions were often reluctant to involve law enforcement, preferring to keep fraud cases below the radar.
Last year May, The Sunday Gleaner reported that bank fraud totalled around $750 million annually, but law enforcement and justice officials appeared incapable of clamping down on the incidence.
Between 2013 and 2018, roughly 3,400 cases were reported to the police Fraud Squad, according to data provided by the JCF.
Arrest and conviction rates were low, with only 115 people found guilty out of 1,029 held for various rackets.
In the five years to 2018, there were 1,982 reports of regular fraud, with 904 arrests.