Bank's anti-fraud boss jailed for stealing from customer accounts

A FORMER anti-fraud boss at the Yorkshire-based bank First Direct has been jailed for stealing from customers' accounts to fund his alcoholism and cocaine addiction In his £65,000-a-year job as head of fraud operations, Richard Crawford, 41, was trusted with the personal details of account holders whose finances were thought to be most at risk from criminals. But, instead of protecting them from fraudsters, he plundered them by either transferring cash sums from them directly or using them to secure loans of thousands of pounds. Leeds Crown Court heard that in eight months, Crawford transferred more than £173,000 into other accounts, although he only made about £110,000 from the scam as the bank successfully cancelled some transactions. Posted in: Internal Fraud