A bank cashier who fed confidential details to a fraud ring in a plot to plunder £1million from accounts has been jailed.
Whitney Atease, 23, of Tooting, used her position at HBOS in Surrey Quays to look at 10 accounts and get answers to security questions so that accomplices could pose as genuine clients.
One account had £238,319 siphoned from it. Other sums ranged from £2,000 to £50,000.
Atease, a mother of one, denied conspiracy to steal but was found guilty at Inner London crown court. She was sentenced to 11 months jail.
Sarah Giddens, prosecuting, said: "The fraud was operated by a number of individuals who, armed with personal security data and false documentation, and inside information, went into various branches, or used phone or online banking services, and impersonated the genuine customer.
"For this fraud to work the criminals organising it needed willing participants from inside the banking industry. Ms Atease was one such insider." Atease was sacked in April 2007 following an internal investigation.
