Banks 'infiltrated' by mafia gangs

Mafia style gangs are infiltrating UK banks to commit fraud, the chairman of
the Financial Services Authority has warned.

Sir Callum McCarthy told a financial crime conference that criminals were
getting jobs in the financial services sector in order to find ways around
anti-fraud systems.

City of London police, as reported in The Times, said they had been
investigating the problem for some time, but in the last two years the problem
had grown worse. It has emerged that seven employees of Barclays Bank were being
investigated for allegedly defrauding customers and the bank.

Two fraudsters were jailed in March for stealing nearly £200,000 from comic
celebrity Ricky Gervais, but the bank insider was never identified.

The gangs have become more blatant in their methods recently, the police
said, by approaching bank workers in their lunch breaks or on their way to work.