Indian-origin woman uses invisible ink to cheat bank customer

London, April 27

A 37-year-old Indian-origin woman bank executive was on Monday spared jail by a court here after she was found guilty of using invisible ink while drawing more than 14,000 pounds from a customer’s account.

Vaijawanthi Aneet, a senior Barclays Bank manager, kept meticulous notes of more than 20 withdrawals while raiding the customer's account between May and November 2013.

Judge Richard Marks, the Common Serjeant of London, gave her a three-month jail sentence suspended for a year, and ordered her to pay 2,300 pounds court costs.

“This has obviously been an extremely traumatic event for you, which has taken a very heavy toll on you and your husband," the judge told her.

"I'm quite satisfied this is an offence completely out of character, and not something that will ever occur in the future. You could and should have done something about this when first it happened.

"The matter is sufficiently serious it can only be dealt with by a sentence of imprisonment, but having regard to the unusual circumstances here, it's a case where a suspended sentence is appropriate," the judge said.

According to a report in The Telegraph, Aneet, a premier relationship manager at Barclays branches in Holborn and Fenchurch Street, set up a new savings account for customer William Giles in order to carry out the fraud.

She then moved the funds to a dormant account before withdrawing the money from a cash machine, the Old Bailey heard.

In order to keep track of the transactions, she used invisible ink, writing entries such as, "To pay back with good interest, asap."

The court heard that when she had eventually been confronted over the allegations, she had produced a notebook which appeared to be blank.

But after colouring it in, the Old Bailey heard that writing had become visible which tracked the withdrawals along with the amount taken.

Aneet admitted the fraud, but claimed she had been forced into it by a man who had assaulted her and demanded money from her.

"In the course of more than 20 transactions, it was put into an account she had opened on his behalf without his knowledge," he said.

Blunt said Aneet was attacked as she left the branch in Fenchurch Street and again outside the Holborn branch by the man who forced her to commit the frauds.

The court heard she gave 11,000 pounds to an unknown man and kept 3,400 pounds for herself.

Blunt said Aneet is now five months pregnant and has been bedridden since she found out she was expecting a child, having suffered three previous miscarriages.

He said Aneet came to the UK in 2009 on a work visa, and an application to stay longer is currently with the Home Office. — PTI