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A Nigerian,Tola Ore of Santander bank, who helped hackers in a bid to steal more than £1.25m is facing jail today.
Personal advisor Tola Ore, 32, fitted a high-tech device to her desktop computer which allowed fraudsters to take control of the workstation from outside the bank in Palmers Green in north London.
The Old Bailey heard that Ore attached a keyboard video mouse (KVM) to her
computer allowing the unknown criminals to steal money electronically from the bank.
The gang attempted to deposit £1,274,000 into 12 different bank accounts over the course of one morning on July 23, 2013.
Another member of staff spotted the suspicious transaction before the full amount could be transferred so the bank's losses here stopped at £147,678.
Eight-months pregnant Ore was due to stand trial this week, but yesterday admitted her part in the scam.
She claimed the masterminds of the fraud had threatened her then two-year-old daughter and warned her: ‘We are going to put you in the coffin.’
Judge Richard Marks QC, the Common Serjeant of London, is due to sentence Ore later this morning.
Edmund Fowler, prosecuting, said the scam was spotted on July 23 2013 after more than £1.25m was deposited into 12 Santander bank accounts before the branch’s opening time, sparking an investigation and search of the premises.
Ore had worked for the bank for six years and had her own office by the time of the fraud.
Mr Fowler said: ‘Analysis revealed a device capable of providing remote access had been fitted through one of the USB ports on her computer.
‘It was Ms Ore who was the only one who had access to the computer at the time the device was fitted and she was the only person to have left the branch prior to the search.’
An audit revealed the fraudulent deposits had been made from Ore’s computer.
Mr Fowler continued: ‘The work station was obviously the key. The answer was there was a remote device plugged in.'
The KVM device, which is about the same size as a video tape, contains a SIM card that allows it to be controlled over WIFI, the court heard.
He said: ‘It allows someone else to have control of the screen as if someone is physically at the work station.'
The device was fitted at 5.08pm on 22 July 2013 and removed at 8.55am the following morning.
‘CCTV footage provided the last piece of the jigsaw,’ the prosecutor added.
Ore was the only person in the branch when the device was connected and disconnected.
Footage showed her removing something about the size of a video tape from her handbag, which she had taken into her office against company policy.
She was also seen clutching a lever-arch file as she left the branch shortly after the item was disconnected from her computer.
Ore was then spotted entering Morrisons where she entered the toilet shortly followed by another person before they both left after just 50 seconds.
She was arrested on 23 July and initially denied knowledge of the fraud. She insisted she was innocent right up to the start of her trial.
Sam Robinson, defending, said there was evidence Ore and her four-year-old daughter had been threatened by others involved in the scam who have never been caught.
‘There was pressure being brought to bear in order for her to give up her details’, he said.
‘She would be aware of the security protocols in operation, but hugely incriminating details is being used, her log in details, which is entirely consistent with her not having a choice about it.
‘Had she had a choice about it, that is the last thing she would have done..’
Ore said she was first approached in early June 2013 by a ‘man outside work as she left’ who started asking questions about her job.
A few week later, her daughter suffered a cut hand and grazed knee after falling in a park, and a few days afterwards Ore said she was approached by a woman at Westfield Shopping Centre.
‘She said that incident that happened in the park with your daughter, that wasn’t an accident’, she told the court.
‘I just froze, she was saying don’t tell anyone, that’s it, we will find you - we know where you live.’
Ore said the mystery woman warned her: ‘We are going to put you in the coffin.’
She said she received a package through the post containing the KVM device, then an Asian man came in to the bank to show her how to attach it to her computer.
‘Those threats are reissued’, said Mr Robinson
‘He said “You are being watched, if you tell anyone what is happening there will be consequences for you and your daughter. Be ready to do what you are told.”’
Mr Robinson said Ore was told to throw the device in a bin in Morrisons after the fraud had been carried out.
Judge Marks offered Ore the chance to give evidence after first hearing her explanation, saying: 'I’ve serious reservations about what I have been told. This account comes the Friday before the Monday of the trial, a year and a half after the event, and in terms of credibility which is central, she has lied throughout.’
Tola Ore, of Edmonton, north London, admitted a single count of fraud.
Daily Mail Uk