A Kiama Downs woman has confessed to fleecing more than $20,000 from the accounts of unsuspecting pensioners while working for the Westpac Bank.
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Angela Leata Patrick, 39, pleaded guilty in Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday to 33 charges of using a false document to obtain a financial advantage, admitting to pocketing thousands of dollars skimmed from five elderly bank customers over a six-month period last year.
Patrick, who was employed as a teller at Westpac's Kiama branch in Manning Street, was responsible for accessing and operating the bank's teller computer system used to conduct deposits and withdrawals.
In this capacity, she prepared unauthorised withdrawal slips on 33 different occasions between February 1 and July 26, on each occasion forging the signature of the account owner before passing it off as a legitimate withdrawal and keeping the money.
Patrick pocketed a total of $20,800 in the scheme.
The five victims were aged between 81 and 91 and all from the Kiama area.
Patrick's actions only came to light when one of the victims reported the unauthorised transactions to police on July 30.
Officers, together with bank officials, carried out an investigation into the claims and uncovered Patrick's offences.
She was charged in January this year.
On Tuesday the court heard Westpac had reimbursed the victims the full amount.
Patrick had already repaid about a quarter of the debt. She will be sentenced in June.