How Bay woman scammed $1.3 million | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

A Tauranga woman has admitted defrauding more than $1 million from a prominent city car dealership in what she describes as a "huge web of deceit" which she hid from her family.

Michelle Campbell, 43, (pictured above) who had been employed as Ebbett Tauranga's business manager since January 2005 but has since been dismissed, admitted 67 fraud and theft charges when she appeared in Tauranga District Court yesterday.

The summary of facts shows Campbell began helping herself to cheques given to her by customers as payment for vehicles in September 2006.

She told customers to leave the payee details blank, because she had an Ebbett stamp, but instead wrote "cash" on the cheques or in a few cases left the payee details blank and deposited the cheques into her own bank account.

Between September 2006 and February this year, she made 60 fraudulent cheque deposits totalling $1,315,807.70 and between December 2009 and January this year she also stole $46,685 in cash given to her by customers for vehicle purchases or leases of vehicles.

After transferring the stolen funds into her household bank accounts, , Campbell used the money to buy assets and for lifestyle spending.

To  conceal her fraud, she  re-deposited $351,000 of the  monies back to Ebbett's accounts and allocated sums to the most outstanding vehicle debtors' accounts, to ensure they did not become overdue and raise suspicion.

In total, the net amount stolen and defrauded from the company came to $1,011,492.70.

Ebbett Tauranga customers did not suffer any financial loss as result of the fraud and kept the vehicles they had bought.

Campbell is married to Tauranga constable Steve Campbell who separated from his wife on learning of the fraud allegation.

The fraud claims first came to light after a bank audit in February this year identified a $25,000 cheque from an Ebbett customer written out for cash and deposited into Campbell's bank account.

When Campbell's employers spoke to her about the matter, she admitted fraudulently obtaining about $492,000, and was subsequently dismissed.

Ebbett Tauranga then launched a forensic investigation and identified 67 fraud and theft offences, before complaining with police.

On March 1, when police searched Campbell's home, two cheques from Ebbett Tauranga customers totalling $65,500 were found in her handbag.

Campbell described her offending to police as a "huge web of deceit"."

Ebbett Tauranga is taking civil action to recover the stolen money.

Campbell was remanded on bail to be sentenced on August 16, but was told by Judge Louis Bidois that a jail term was inevitable.