Post office manager who stole from elderly is jailed

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A 59-year-old manager of a post office who targeted what he hoped were vulnerable elderly victims by stealing thousands of pounds from their post office accounts has been jailed for eight months.

Michael Kanjia stole more than £4,000 from a number of customers all in their 80s, while running the sub post office in McColls newsagents in Tudor Parade, Rickmansworth.

An investigation into Kanjia unearthed more than £4,000 of irregular transactions carried out on the pensioners’ post office card accounts.

Post office investigator John Longman discovered Kanjia was scamming the pensioners of hundreds of pounds a time each occasion they visited his post office.

Kanjia would ask the customer requesting to withdraw cash from their account to enter their PIN for a second time, saying that the transaction had not gone through properly. This enabled Kanjia to take for himself the same amount that had been requested.

Kanjia had been running the post office in Berry Lane for 18 months until he was found out in the summer of 2007.

Mr Longman said during the trial: “They were all elderly in their 80s and had quite large balances for post office account customers of two, three or four thousand pounds. Michael Kanjia’s user ID appeared on all the transactions.”

Another time an 86-year-old woman asked to withdraw £200. She went home with the money, but discovered a receipt showed £250 had been taken out of her account.

The woman returned with her daughter and confronted Kanjia, who handed over the £50 and said it had been left on the side. The woman was contacted by investigators and identified a number of duplicated unexplained transactions between June 2006 and May the following year for between £200 and £300. All the extra withdrawals were carried out just seconds after those she had asked for.

When questioned about the thefts Kanjia said: “I just cannot believe that. There is nothing I have done. There is a mistake somewhere. The customer must have asked for the money twice. I cannot remember why. It is none of my business.

“I would not steal from a pensioner. I have never taken anything in my life. I am there to serve the customer not to rob them.”

Kanjia, of Uxbridge Road, Pinner, was found guilty of theft and sentence adjourned for reports until Tuesday, when he was imprisoned for eight months and ordered to pay £2,000 compensation to his victims.