An Enfield bank employee has been jailed for her role in an organised crime group that committed £385,000 of benefit fraud.

On February 4 of last year, Santino Laskowski was present during an attempt to open an account at a bank branch in Barking using someone else’s credentials and a fraudulently obtained utility bill.

He was arrested and officers found messages on the 25-year-old’s phone contained numerous details of fraudulently opened bank accounts in the names of others, and messages between himself and gang member Ali Tariq, 41, exchanging fraudulent bank account information.

Later that month, Tariq attended a bank in Queen Victoria Street in the company of a Polish man to fraudulently open a bank account using the man's details. Tariq was arrested and officers found the victim had been coerced into opening an account on behalf of Tariq for the purposes of fraud.

On the same day, bank employee Karolina Zmijewska, 40, of Enfield, was arrested on suspicion of committing fraud, as the bank identified bank accounts that she had opened which matched the accounts of those in Laskowski’s phone messages.

Zmijewska claimed she had opened the fraudulent bank accounts on behalf of a woman named Monika Gorska and denied any wrongdoing.

Monika Gorska and her sister, Edyta Gorska, who acted as an accomplice, were arrested as they tried to flee the UK to Poland.

It was found the pair were exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic by fraudulently opening Universal Credit accounts in the names of Polish Nationals, in order to obtain cash from the government.

The DWP identified that £300k had been fraudulently paid to these account holders.

Laskowski received a two year and four months custodial sentence for conspiracy to defraud the UK banking industry.

Tariq, of Newham, received a two-year sentence, suspended for two years, plus a 20-day rehabilitation course and curfew for conspiracy to commit fraud.

Zmijewska received an 18-month prison sentence for conspiracy to commit fraud.

Monika Gorska, 28, of Poland, received a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to supply articles for use in fraud.

Edyta Gorska, 36, of Poland, received a two-year prison sentence for committing money laundering offences.

Matt Cornell, Detective Constable at the DCPCU, commented: “This criminal gang wrongfully thought they could get away with committing £385k of fraud, including by exploiting the Universal Credit scheme.  

“Fortunately, we were able to detect these criminals by working closely with the bank to bring them to justice.

“This sentencing is a warning to those who believe they can benefit financially from fraud that they will be caught and punished.”