Payroll Worker Stole £123,000 with Fake Emails and Invoices
Sandra Komunska, 29, used her payroll job to steal more than £123,000 by making dozens of payments to her own bank accounts. She pulled off the scam between June 2016 and January 2020 using forged emails, invoices, and false payee details.
Caught After Client Payment Goes Missing
An internal probe into a missing client payment exposed Komunska’s fraud. She confessed that the money was paid straight into her account. Her employer swiftly fired her.
Further digging revealed she also transferred funds to two other accounts. Komunska, who lives on Lovesey Avenue, Hucknall, claimed she stole the cash while struggling to support her children.
Sentenced to Suspended Jail and Community Orders
Komunska pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position at Nottingham Crown Court last Friday. She was handed a two-year prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, plus 20 days of rehab and 150 hours of unpaid work.
“Komunska repeatedly stole a very large sum of money over a three-and-a-half-year period,” said Detective Inspector Christopher Underwood, a specialist fraud investigator with Nottinghamshire Police.
“She could have stopped this offending at any time but chose instead to keep stealing more and more from the employers who had put so much time and effort into training her. This was a heinous breach of trust.”
