Edinburgh estate agent manager admits embezzling more than £16,000 from employers
An estate agent manager who embezzled more than £16,000 from his employers has been ordered to carry out unpaid work as punishment.
Ross Young produced fake invoices for maintenance work that he pretended had been carried out at properties while employed with Belvoir Letting Agency in Edinburgh.
Young, 40, managed to steal a total of £16,680 over a 10 month period before he was eventually caught out when a colleague became suspicious of the bogus invoice scam in October 2019.
An internal company investigation was conducted and the estate agent boss was arrested and charged after the police were contacted. Young, from Colinton, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to embezzling the cash between January and October 2019 when he appeared at the city’s sheriff court last month.
The court heard Young was employed as a sales person with the property firm in September 2018 before being promoted to general manager three months later.
Following his promotion Young was given responsibilities including hiring staff, promoting the company and was also given access to computer systems and the firm’s credit card.
An accounts manager with the company subsequently became suspicious over a number of invoices relating to work being carried out within properties owned by the letting agents. An investigation involved a number of companies being contacted that Young had claimed had been employed to carry out maintenance work at the flats.
The court was told the firms contacted had confirmed “they had not been instructed to carry out any work” and as result the matter was reported to the police.
The court heard Young had been producing fake invoices for the bogus work and ‘a total of £16,680 was transferred into an account owned by the accused’.
Young returned to the dock for sentencing on Thursday, August 21, where Sheriff Francis Gill imposed a community payback order with an unpaid work element of 200 hours to be completed within 12 months.
Young pleaded guilty to embezzling £16,680 while employed as a manager with Belvoir Letting Agents, Dundas Street, Edinburgh, between January and October 2019.