Former HSBC worker who stole £900,000 from customers is jailed

Hamzah Issak
Hamzah Issak, 30, of Leicester, admitted fraud by abuse of position and was jailed on Friday. (SWNS)

A former HSBC bank worker who fraudulently transferred nearly £900,000 out of customers’ accounts has been jailed for more than five years.

Hamzah Issak, 30, admitted one count of fraud by abuse of position and three counts under the Computer Misuse Act last July.

He was jailed for five-and-a-half years at Leicester Crown Court on Friday.

Investigators found Issak had helped deposit £896,645.05 into beneficiary accounts.

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General view of Leicester Crown Court, Leicester.
He was jailed at Leicester Crown Court. (Getty) (PA Archive/PA Images)

The court heard Issak, of Leicester, stole the money while working at HSBC in the city between 2016 and 2018.

The bank identified three of the customers had been victims of account takeover fraud and payments had been made from their accounts without their knowledge.

All three victims, who are Nigerian, were in their home country when the transactions were taking place within the UK.

The bank’s investigation found that Issak had accessed all three accounts several times and changed personal details to allow the account to be used by someone other than the holder.

On two occasions, unidentified suspects entered the Leicester branch and had gone directly over to Issak.

Both suspects were then served by the Issak, who failed to follow company protocol on checking their signatures.

HSBC questioned Issak in January 2018 after the first victim had been identified.

He quit the bank before two further victims were identified.

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Photo of the recovered drugs, cash and stun gun, designed to look like a mobile phone. (SWNS)
Photo of the recovered drugs, cash and stun gun, designed to look like a mobile phone. (SWNS) (Leicestershire Police / SWNS)

When investigators found he had helped deposit the money into beneficiary accounts, police were alerted by the bank and Issak was arrested at his home.

Officers seized a stun gun disguised as a mobile phone along with cash as well as cocaine in his car.

He also pleaded guilty to charges of possession with intent to supply class A drugs, and possession of a stun gun weapon.

The court heard police found cocaine with a street value of almost £700, a stun gun and £1,600 cash in his car in December 2019.

Detective Constable Jo Lockton, of Leicestershire Police, said: “Issak completely abused his position as a trusted employee of the bank using his access to view and change significant personal details of innocent customers for his own financial gain.”

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