Bank staff defrauded customers of £42,000
TWO LLOYDS Bank customer service advisers stole £42,000 from customers in a telephone scam, a court heard.
Adam Lorgat and Saad Hussain duped a total of 45 customers during the fraud conspiracy while working at the Lovell Park call centre in Leeds.
Leeds Crown Court heard customers would make genuine calls to the bank seeking assistance and they were asked for account details, including a sort code and security numbers.
Lorgat and Hussain then recorded customers’ details and passed them on to others who then made fraudulent calls to the bank.
Those callers used an automated system and used the details to request sums of money to be transferred into other accounts.
The court heard the gang “recruited” vulnerable people who were willing to have funds transferred into their bank accounts.
Sums were later withdrawn from banks and cash machines before being handed over to the gang.
The offending took place over a three-month period in 2014.
Lorgat was arrested in December 2014 and scraps of paper containing customer bank details were found in his possession.
Lorgat and Hussain pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position.
Lorgat, 24, of Bradford Road, Fartown, Huddersfield, was jailed for two years and 11 months.
Hussain, 26, of Summerlands Grove, Bradford, was jailed for two years and five months.
Five other men were jailed for a total of 13 years and nine months over their roles in the conspiracy.