'Inside Man' Accused of Stealing £1.25m from Barclays Branch
An ‘inside man’ is on trial in London for attaching a device to a Barclays bank branch computer and using it to steal £1.25m.
In April 2013, Duane Jean-Jacques, an employee at the Swiss Cottage branch, allegedly connected a keyboard video mouse (KVM) device to a computer. From there, criminals were able to access the branch’s computers remotely and use Jean-Jacques’ login credentials to make 128 transfers from six high-value business accounts in north London, including those of the University of Portsmouth and London Metropolitan University. Police have only recovered £543,000, the
Financial Times
reported.
The transactions, each for less that £10,000, took seconds to complete.
Police searched the home of another member of Lanre Mullins-Abudu, Jean-Jacques’ alleged accomplice, and found a KVM switch with a mobile router attached, as well as a ‘crib sheet’ full of compromised personal banking data.
Prosecutor Simon Farrell QC said that police uncovered an “Aladdin’s cave full of banking documents and electrical equipment for use in fraud on a massive scale.”
Jean-Jacques and Mullins-Abudu deny any involvement of the theft. Three other men are also on trial for their involvement in the crime, as well as other fraud-related offences.
Mullins-Abudu has also been accused of being involved in a similar heist attempt on Santander bank in September 2013. Another man, not one of the ones currently on trial, posed as an engineer from BT OpenReach to access a restricted area of the branch and attach a KVM device.