Westpac speaks on Gympie banker Alicia McDonald, jailed for fraud

Westpac has made a statement about the jailing of a former personal banker who ripped its customers off of more than $176,000.

Alicia Jill McDonald was jailed after pleading guilty in Gympie District Court to two counts of fraud. The former Westpac banker stole the money while working at the Gympie branch in 2018 and 2019.

Westpac has apologised to customers ripped off by a former banker who illegally accessed their accounts and stole more than $176,000, while reaffirming its ongoing efforts to protect their cash.

Alicia Jill McDonald was jailed for her crimes on Friday, October 20, after pleading guilty in the Gympie District Court to two counts of fraud.

The 35-year-old former personal banker committed the crimes across a 14-month period from March 2018 to May 2019, while working at the Gympie branch.

She stole the money from four customers with the bank.

The court was told more than $152,000 was taken from an elderly retiree who had sold their home and travelled to Germany.

He only discovered the crimes when he returned to find $277 in his account.

Alicia Jill McDonald, 35, of Gympie, was jailed for four-and-a-half years with the sentence to be suspended for five years after 12 months was served.

McDonald took the money in 120 separate transactions, at points accessing the accounts through a colleague’s computer and forging signatures.

She was jailed for four-and-a-half years, with the sentence to be suspended after she served 12 months.

The suspension will remain in place for five years.

A Westpac spokesman said on Thursday the bank “ensured any impacted customers were reimbursed for any discrepancies with their accounts” and apologised for what had happened.

A Westpac spokesman said Alicia Jill McDonald’s employment was terminated in October 2019, and affected customers were reimbursed.

“Westpac takes the financial security of our customers extremely seriously and we have multiple systems in place to identify and investigate misconduct,” he said.

He said McDonald had not been on the bank’s staff since October 2019.

“We terminated the employment of the individual, have conducted a full internal investigation, and co-operated with authorities throughout,” he said.

Westpac declined to comment on how the bank recovered money lost to fraudulent activities.

The court heard McDonald used the stolen money on personal purchases, including on holidays, jewellery and toys, and to help with obtaining finance for the purchase of a Harley Davidson and a Suzuki car.

She had offered to pay restitution to the bank, but Judge Nathan Jarro said she was not in any financial position to do so.