Burnley bank clerk stole almost £20k from vulnerable customers

Hannah Bibi was working at the Halifax branch in Curzon Street, Burnley, when she transferred money into her own account and withdrew thousands in cash between February 2020 and April 2021.

Burnley Crown Court heard how the now 25-year-old was rumbled when Pamela McIntosh, who was employed as an investigator for the Lloyd Banking Group, began looking into issues at the Burnley branch in relation to suspicious transactions that had been made on customer accounts.

Hannah Bibi (Image: Lancs Police)

Prosecuting, Lisa Worsley told the court how Bibi had registered three individual customers for internet banking without them knowing, adding mobile numbers and contact details for them, before withdrawing cash and closing the accounts.

She said the customers were all vulnerable, with one being deaf, one being a previous victim of a romance scam, and one having some mental health issues.

Ms Worsley said: “The first complainant had a Halifax current account, and Bibi opened an everyday saver account in his name on March 19, 2021, and then closed his passbook account at the end of May.

“On April 8 she transferred £600 from his current account to his everyday saver account, made a balance enquiry and then made a cash withdrawal of £320.

“This withdrawal was highlighted with the bank because the victim was classed as vulnerable, and the branch manager reviewed CCTV and found he had not been present at the branch at the time of the withdrawal.

“A review of his accounts found individual withdrawals had been made from his account as far back as February 8, totalling £6,820.

“On March 15, 2021, a further payment of £1,000 went out of his passbook account with the statement reference of ‘daughter’.

“The beneficiary account was that of Hannah Bibi.”

Records showed all the transactions had been made by Bibi, as it was her unique banking log on and ID that had been used to set up the internet banking account for the victim.

Two other victims were identified, who had around £11,000 taken from their accounts in total.

The second was registered for internet banking by Bibi on December 1, 2020, and on December 20 she added her contact details to his account.

Ms Worsley said she made 10 cash withdrawals from his account between August 8, 2020, and April 28, 2021, totalling £5,660.

Her final victim was a woman, who was also registered for internet banking by Bibi around the same time as the first.

Ms Worsley went on: “On March 15, 2021, a first payment of £400 went out with the reference ‘sally loan payment’. This went into the defendant’s account.

“Between August 2020 and September 2020, 10 cash withdrawals were made totalling up to £6,000.”

The police were called and Bibi was spoken to at the branch in May 2021, where the allegations were put to her.

Ms Worsley added: “She was arrested for fraud by abuse of position and appeared to be in complete shock.

“She was served suspension papers by Halifax and was taken into custody and made full admissions.”

Ms Worsley said Bibi had only been employed by Halifax on an ad-hoc basis and as her outgoings were more than her incomings she became “desperate” and saw an opportunity to take from customers.

She said: “She stated she simply became greedy, and it got out of control.

"She said she purchased a treadmill with some of the money and admitted preying on the more vulnerable customers because it would be 'easier to get away with'.”

Mitigating, Mark Stuart said Bibi had needed the money to pay household bills when her dad and brother both became unemployed during Covid, and she felt she needed to "step up".

He said: “She was only making £70 a week some weeks and couldn’t pay the family bills and felt that she had to. She wanted to support her mother, but things escalated.”

As a result of her stealing, Bibi amassed a saving of £10,000, which she then used to start paying back to the bank.

Mr Stuart said: “She’s wholly embarrassed by what went on.”

Judge Sara Dodd said Bibi’s actions were a “gross abuse of trust” and recognised that she was remorseful and had been paying back the money since her arrest, but said “only a sentence of immediate custody could be imposed”.

Bibi, of Ormerod Road, Burnley, pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by abuse of position and was jailed for 12 months.