A FORMER Seaford loans manager has been charged with deceiving the National Australia Bank of more than $813,000.
The Lysterfield man will face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for a committal mention in February over the alleged deceptions in which he is said to have “skimmed” a small commission percentage from up to 380 loans over four years.
He will face up to 50 charges alongside a co-accused man, 33, of Box Hill South, who it is alleged to have acted as an external accomplice.
The charges range from attempting to obtain property by deception, conspiring to defraud the bank and three counts of possessing the proceeds of crime – including a Ferrari and cash totalling $825,176.
The loans they are alleged to have skimmed ranged in value from less than $100,000 to more than $2 million.
Detective Senior Constable Stuart Hough, of Frankston CIU, said Andrew Matthews, 35, the NAB’s mobile banker of the year for regional Victoria in 2015, was involved in a “sophisticated home loans commissions scam”.
He allegedly falsified loans documents by getting customers to sign pages saying they had been referred through the bank’s Inducer Program 2012-16 which earned a small commission.
Detective Hough said the program rewarded people who did not work for the bank for referring new customers. He said Mr Matthews split the commission paid to his alleged accomplice.
Mr Matthews was sacked in July last year when the alleged scam was uncovered through the bank’s internal review processes.
The fraudulent behaviour came after the NAB revealed it had sacked another 20 bankers and disciplined 32 over the sale of mortgages without accurate customer information and documentation.
