A charity shop supervisor who secretly made more than £100 in fraudulent refunds to a bank card in her name has been sentenced and fined.

Raazah Faraz, 37, worked at Sue Ryder, in Cherry Hinton, from May to September 2019, during which time she authorised a number of fake refunds.

Senior management became suspicious when they noticed a pattern of refunds and decided to investigate.

They discovered the vast majority had been carried out by one staff member at times when other members of staff would have gone home.

They found the ID number for the transactions belonged to Faraz and were able to match the time of the transactions with her shifts on the rota.

The team’s suspicions were raised further when they noticed the refund values were all rounded up to high figures, such as £20, as the shop sells items for a mixture of odd and even figures and often at much lower prices.

The refunds were put on a bank card, which was later discovered to belong to Faraz.

When Faraz was arrested she denied the offences, however, she later pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position.

Faraz, of Headington Drive, Cambridge, was sentenced to five months in prison, suspended for two years at Cambridge Crown Court yesterday (May 13).

She was also ordered to pay £1,750 in costs and £800 in compensation.

PC Russell Knight, who investigated, said: “Deceiving your employer for your own financial gain is dreadful at the best of times, but when your employer is a charity and the money you are taking is earmarked for good causes, this really takes things to a different level.

“Fraud is a priority area for the force and we do our utmost to bring those responsible for such crimes before the courts. I am glad justice has been done today.”

For more advice on fraud, visit: https://bit.ly/3hoihpW