Sammy Annear convicted of dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception

An eastern suburbs man defrauded over $25,000 by swapping his former employer’s banks details with his own on client invoices, which he hoped to “double and then pay back” through gambling.

Sammy Annear leaves JMT Court on Friday.

An eastern suburbs man defrauded over $25,000 from his former work by swapping the company’s banking details with his own on client invoices, a move prompted by his gambling addiction, a court has heard.

Sammy Annear, 29, from Bondi Beach, faced Downing Centre Local Court on Friday after pleading guilty to three counts of dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception.

Over a 2 month period in 2023, Annear embezzled a total of $25,743 from online retailer Appliances Online where he’d been employed as a customer service consultant for two years.

The fraud involved three separate customers who unknowingly sent payment to Annear’s personal banking account, which he had supplied on their invoices rather than Appliances Online’s.

One customer ordered a Smeg oven, while another ordered three fridges, a wine chiller, a washing machine, a heat pump, a dryer and two televisions in an order totalling $14,232.

Annear was working for online retailer Appliances Online. Picture: Supplied

After receiving their funds, Annear would email the customers confirming the order was on the way.

However the items never arrived, prompting the customers to complain and Appliances Online to investigate.

Police became involved and were supplied with correspondence between Anenar and the customers, before he was arrested more than a year later in February.

On Friday, solicitor Uzma Abbas said her client planned on working two jobs to reimburse Appliances Online, as outlined in a letter of apology written to the court.

Ms Abbas said while her client was a person who’d “had every opportunity in life” and was “educated really well”, he had also been exposed to significant trauma, notably the death of his mother in the months prior to his offending.

The court also heard Annear was in the grips of a gambling addiction, which he had now overcome.

Magistrate Clare Farnan remarked the amount defrauded by Annear was “not insubstantial”, and queried why he hadn’t made any attempts at paying it back given the length of time it took for him to be arrested.

“He knew he stole this money and didn’t pay it back, he was probably hoping it’d all go away,” she said

“He does seem to accept he had a gambling addiction, and wanted to double it and pay it back, a sad and frequent story.”

Magistrate Farnan accepted Annear was remorseful, but noted his prior criminal record which dated back to 2015, and included charges of drug supply, possession, dealing with proceeds of crime and driving matters.

Annear was convicted and sentenced to an 11 month intensive corrections order, and 120 hours of community service.