A sacked Telstra salesman says he was trying to provide for his family when he scammed an extra $5000 in commissions from his employer.
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Nicholas Hill, 30, was employed as a business solutions specialist at the Albury-Wodonga Telstra Business Centre between January 2017 and February 18 before he was caught out for what a magistrate this week called a “greedy and opportunistic” crime.
He appeared in Wodonga Magistrates Court this week to apologise and plead guilty to charges of obtaining property by deception and attempting to obtain property by deception.
Over a nine-month period, Hill created 190 sales invoices for Happytalk Communications which police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Penny Lawler said “had been grossly expanded to inflate his commission”.
He fraudulently entered an extra $50,000 in sales into the system and was paid about $5000 in commissions, but a delay from the company meant the $2500 claimed for another $50,000 in fraudulent sales was not paid out before his arrest.
Customers were never charged for the extra services Hill made up to get the commissions and they never knew the invoices had been altered.
Magistrate David Faram said it was a serious breach of his employer’s trust that could not happen again, ordering he pay back the $5000 and pay another $2500 fine.
“You only get one reputation,” he said.
“When you wreck it, you wreck it it, and it takes a long time to rebuild.”
He was trying to support his family and he’s gone about it the wrong way.
- Solicitor David Avery
Lawyer David Avery said Hill was an ordinary father-of-two who was otherwise very well respected.
“He’s accepted this matter simply shouldn’t have occurred, he’s made a huge mistake,” he said.
“He was trying to support his family and he’s gone about it the wrong way.”
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