Glamorous former St George Bank worker charged with fraud
A glamorous former bank worker has been charged with fraud offences after allegedly draining the life savings from an elderly customer’s account.
A former St George Bank employee allegedly used her staff access to create an online banking account for an elderly client without their knowledge to drain almost $350,000 of their life savings, a court has heard.
Police allege Sara Daizli also used her position at the bank to open accounts in the names of fictitious people and swindle hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Ms Daizli - also known as Sara Diaz Sukkar - was refused bail at Central Local Court on Thursday after she was arrested at a beauty venue on Pitt Street, Sydney the day before.
Footage from the arrest shows the 29-year-old dressed in a figure-hugging jumpsuit and designer slides as she is loaded into the back of a police wagon.
Police will allege she was a key player in a scheme that defrauded the bank and customers of more than $590,000 between February 2016 and December 2018.
She is charged with eight counts of dealing with identity documents to commit an indictable offence, four counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception, two counts of possessing identity documents to commit an indictable offence and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Two other people, a 26-year-old woman and Feras Veaal, 28, were arrested on December 9 on fraud allegations.
Court documents allege Ms Daizli, a mother-of-two, used “fictitious” driver’s licences to start accounts using fake identities such as Stefanie Jones, Rochelle Stepkonaizik, Georgina Slater and Samah Sleiman.
She allegedly used her employee logins to make 82 transfers into those accounts between February 2016 and October 2017, with those transactions totalling more than $146,000.
Ms Daizli, of Prestons in Sydney’s southwest, is also accused in court documents of starting an online bank account for a person known as NF without their knowledge and transferring a total of $348,801.20 to Mr Neaal between November 2016 and October 2018.
She also allegedly made three personal loan applications in fake names to the tune of almost $62,000, and persuaded another bank employee to withdraw almost $19,000 from accounts.
Court documents state Ms Daizli is accused of dealing with $242,871.46 in crime proceeds during the period of her alleged deception.
Police raided a business in Liverpool on Wednesday and found two post-it notes containing personal and bank details of a woman and a St George visa debit card that they allege Ms Daizli intended to use for further crimes.
Financial crimes squad commander Detective Superintendent Linda Howlett labelled the alleged fraud syndicate “disgraceful”.
“It will be alleged in court that this woman used her employment to facilitate unauthorised fraudulent bank transactions valued at nearly $600,000 over a two-year period,” Superintendent Howlett said.
“This includes nearly $350,000 allegedly siphoned from an elderly individual’s retirement and personal accounts – essentially stealing all of their savings.
“Criminal offences of this nature are not only financially debilitating but also emotionally distressing for victims, and anyone involved in stealing the hard-earned wages and savings of others is disgraceful.
“The methods used to obtain the funds involved a high degree of planning. They were complex, of a large monetary value and designed in a way to conceal and abuse the trust of her employer and customers.”
Superintendent Howlett urged anyone who believed their identity had been compromised online to contact their financial institution and police.
Ms Daizli is set to spend Christmas behind bars and will next appear in court on February 25.
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