A UK banker has been jailed after admitting to defrauding bank customers out of a total of £218,000 in order to fund her lifestyle. The crime was discovered after an anti-fraud system at the bank she worked at flagged a transfer of £5,000 between accounts. Julie Fraser has been remanded in custody while she awaits sentencing next month. The woman’s barrister said that she knew the crime carried a prison sentence and would not ask for the court to deal with it any other way because of the serious crime and the amount of money involved.
Julie Fraser has been found guilty of embezzling funds by transferring money from customer accounts into her own Bank of Scotland account in Perth. Following an investigation, it has been determined that she stole a total of just over £218,000 from four people, and she told investigators that she knew it was a crime and that she had taken the money from people that were poor with finances and would not notice.
It was not one of the victims that first discovered the theft, but an anti-fraud system that was put in place to prevent embezzlement and other forms of fraudulent activity. A £5,000 transfer was flagged as being suspicious, and an investigation soon followed, during which time Fraser pleaded guilty. The money was stolen through a total of 26 transactions.
Fraser attended monthly meetings at the Perth branch, and she would destroy paperwork relating to the transfers during her visits. She said that she had stolen the money to fund her lifestyle, and to help put her daughter through university. Money from Ms Fraser’s substantial pension fund has been used to repay the money stolen.
Sheriff Charles Macnair QC found Fraser guilty and told her that she would face a substantial prison sentence. She has been remanded in custody, and sentencing will take place next month after a background report has been compiled. Ms Fraser has said that she wants her prison sentence to start as soon as possible because she has an elderly mother that she and her sister care for on a daily basis.