London: Muslim woman's sexting shame preyed on by Halifax blackmailers

A bank worker who helped loot a customer's account because of her private nude photos shame, is facing jail.

Anisyah Ali, 25, was part of a gang which stole £123,000 to spend on expensive items such as cars and jewellery from wealthy customer Julian Masters in 2012.

A new bank card and PIN number for his account was ordered by Ali and then passed on to a gang of fraudsters, who did the spending. When Halifax blocked the card after being alerted to suspicious spending, she lifted the bar so the fraud could carry on.

She claimed she abused her position at the Halifax branch in north London because fraudsters threatened to reveal naked images of sent to a former boyfriend to the devout Muslim family of her fiancé, Salim Hussain, whom the gang was menacing. He had racked up gambling debts in the weeks before he and Ali was due to marry.

The photos had previously been made public and posted on to a Danish porn website, leading Ali's own Muslim family to shun contact with her, she said.

Ali told the court: "It is a very, very difficult subject. When he told me it was going to happen for a second time it made me even more scared because it would have involved Salim's family and we would not be able to get married," she said.

"They would have thought very bad of me. For me to know he could have been taken away from me at any point because of that, it frightened me, it scared me, and to know that he could have been hurt at the same time."

Ali, from Norwood, south London was founding guilty of one count of fraud by false representation and one count of fraud by abuse of position.

Salim, of Southall, was found guilty of a single count of fraud by false representation.

The Old Bailey trial continues.