Ex-HSBC employee jailed over £67,000 customer accounts scam
A former HSBC employee has been imprisoned for 18 months after leaking customer account details to criminals who stole £67,000.
Liberty Staph, 27, of Broadley Street in Marylebone, who worked in an HSBC contact centre in central London, pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by abuse of position. Detectives uncovered that three bank customers had money taken from their accounts without their knowledge shortly after interacting with Staph.
Staph then compromised the security on the accounts allowing another defendant, 21-year-old Adam Chelfat, of Albion Avenue in Clapham, to withdraw the funds, netting herself £8,000 after the fraud had been completed.
Chelfat pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering and was sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence and 100 hours of unpaid work.
All three victims were refunded in full by the bank.
Detective constable Mark Cresswell said: “Staph abused her position to fraudulently obtain money from HSBC customers who she was supposed to be helping. Her criminal actions were uncovered thanks to a comprehensive internal investigation by HSBC.
“The prison sentence received by Staph should act as a deterrent to any other bank employees considering any similar actions.”