Embezzler facing jail after admitting £90K insurance cash scam

Customer service adviser admits setting up bogus bank accounts to siphon off cash

An insurance agent set up numerous bank accounts to embezzle nearly £100,000 from his employers at industry giant Aviva.

Aaron Williams had nine bank accounts and spent nearly three years funnelling the company’s cash into his own pocket.

Williams, 29, was carrying out fake refunds to customers and putting the money into his own accounts between 2012 and 2015.

He was eventually caught out when an eagle-eyed colleague noticed that a payment was being made to a suspicious looking account which did not appear to be linked to the customer involved.

The insurance giant called in its main investigator because of the scale of the fraud involved and Williams was initially charged with embezzling more than £117,000.

Yesterday at Perth Sheriff Court, Williams was warned he faces jail after he admitted embezzling a reduced figure of £90,000 from Aviva.

Williams admitted that between November 12012 and May 62015, while he was employed by Aviva in Perth, he embezzled £90,000 from the company.

Depute fiscal Tina Dickie told the court: “He was employed as a customer service adviser at Aviva. As part of his duties he was responsible for processing insurance premium refunds.

“The matter came to light through Stephanie Glover, who was a colleague. She became suspicious of a premium refund raised by the accused.

“She noticed a refund authorised by the accused had been sent to a different bank account from an earlier payment made to the same customer.

“She questioned the accused and reported the circumstances to the group investigations team and forensic audit department.

“The investigation identified the accused as being responsible for a large number of irregular payments totalling £90,000.

“It had been paid into nine bank accounts over the period, all of them relating to the accused. The vast majority had been authorised by the accused himself, using his unique Aviva system identification.”

The court was told that the con was reported to the police and that Aviva had managed to recover £51,938.32 from Williams since his arrest.

Sheriff William Wood said he had noted that some of the money had been recovered but warned Williams that he should be ready to go to jail when he is sentenced.

He deferred sentence until next month and told Williams, from Perth: “You should be prepared for that possibility when you come back.”

It had been paid into nine bank accounts, all of them relating to the accused. The vast majority had been authorised by the accused himself, using his unique Aviva system

Aaron Williams leaves Perth Sheriff Court. He was told he is facing a jail sentence.