A supermarket customer service manager embezzled more than £1,000 from Tesco in a bid to keep up with the latest fashion trends.
Surej Avtar created more than a dozen fake customers and used online accounts to order goods before paying refunds into his own bank account.
A sheriff told Avtar taking the money to keep up with clothes trends was a “particularly poor reason” to carry out the systematic embezzlement.
Sheriff John Rafferty told him: “There was a considerable degree of planning – you were in a position of trust and I counted 14 transactions.
“There is never a good reason for this type of offence but the reason you have given here is particularly poor, that you were keeping up with the latest trends.
“In a case of this nature – embezzling from your employer over a period of five months or so, to a sum in excess of £1,000, on 14 occasions – then the first disposal the court has to have in mind is a custodial one to punish you and deter others.”
However, he said due to Avtar’s early guilty plea and his limited criminal record, he would stop short of sending him to prison.
He placed him under supervision for a year, on a curfew for six months and ordered him to pay back the full amount to Tesco within 28 days.
Fake names scam
Avtar, 32, of St Dennis Terrace, Dundee, admitted embezzling £1,111.94 while he was a customer service manager in the city between January 1 and June 23, 2020.
Fiscal depute Calum Gordon told Dundee Sheriff Court: “Part of his role was that he was responsible for processing online orders.
“He was also authorised to refund orders.”
He said Tesco began looking at refunds and found a transaction which looked suspicious.
Further investigation led to Avtar and a series of accounts were probed.
Mr Gordon said: “Items were ordered, refunds were actioned and then the accounts were deleted.
“The accused had created the accounts.
“Checks were made on the bank accounts the refund went to and the unique employee reference number authorising the refunds and both were traced to the accused.”
Solicitor Anika Jethwa, defending, said: “After the commission of the offence he was dismissed from his employment.
“I’m not sure what initially created suspicion but I believe three of the accounts were in the same name.
“He was using similar names.”
