We have all been told that the safest place to keep your money is in the bank, but these days that’s not the case with Jamaican banks.

Over the last year or so there have been an alarming number of cases where bank employees have been raiding customers’ accounts, embarrassing their employers and putting them in an untenable position.

A few weeks ago, we were made aware of J$65 million defrauded from US dollar accounts at a Sagicor bank. Two bank workers there have been arrested and charged.

Yesterday, a young woman complained of funds missing from her savings account at NCB and that little effort was made to address the matter by the bank’s management.

In May of this year, a senior bank manager was involved in a multi-million dollar racket at NCB which the bank did not comment on.

Last year, Andrea Gordon, a trusted senior manager at NCB, was jailed for seven years for stealing J$34 million from the bank.

What is behind this rise in staff stealing from their banks? In days gone by, bank robbers would stage daring attacks on banks, breaking into vaults and making getaways in suped-up cars. Today, banks can’t trust their own employees because they are the ones stealing clients’ money right under the noses of their bosses.

Jamaican banks have made it clear that they want to move away from the traditional brick and mortar model which incurs high operating costs, to digital with fewer employees and greater reliance on technology.

But, with that comes security issues and placing more trust in employees who now know how to game the system.

Banks are reluctant to address employee theft because it could lead to panic and customers closing and transferring accounts. That is understandable. However, they must now take greater care with their recruitment methods and thoroughly vet staff and be on the look out for interconnected parties.

In Jamaica, the focus is on violent crimes and murder but the spotlight also has to be turned on white collar crime, the slick professional who speaks well and looks like a well-dressed law abiding citizen.

The level of scamming and cybercrimes in Jamaica is disturbing. In May of this year, NCB’s manager of special investigations in its Fraud Prevention Unit, Dane Nicholson announced:  “So over the last 10 days or so, we have seen close to J$18 million defrauded from accounts, but for the year starting from Jan 1 to current  (May), it’s about $23 million thereabout that customers have lost to smishing and phishing attacks.”

 Beset by digital attacks, banks also have to contend with its employees stealing from its customers. Banks now face spending inordinate sums on security and tracking what staff are doing.

It was once thought that landing a good job at the bank with attendant benefits was a good career and ensured financial security. But in today’s culture with the skyboxification of Jamaica and everyone wanting the high life as depicted on social media, enough is never enough.

SCOFFING AT DEFERRED GRATIFICATION

Bankers want uptown apartments, shopping trips to New York, they want to Louis Vuitton, Prada, Jimmy Choo. They want to drive only Audi, BMW, Benz. They want it all and they want it now – they can’t be bothered to build a career, they scoff at deferred gratification. They will steal customers’ money to get it.

Two months ago, a well-respected contractor spoke about how millions went missing from his account and the pains he went to retrieve said sums, which meant he couldn’t make pay roll and his business was in peril.

The banks have to conduct their investigations which take time. It doesn’t help if its employees are the ones perpetrating fraud and theft.

It’s a serious problem.