Poppy Westhead

I am a highly ambitious and motivated 23 year old, who is wanting and willing to learn as much as possible. I have a real passion for working in fraud and helping others were I can. I mainly work solo but love managing and working within a team. I am extremely organised and time management is one of my main strengths, I also enjoy working on a tight time scale, this tends to motivate me to a new level. 

In my personal life, I love travelling to new places with my puppy Daisy and creating new adventures together. I also enjoy weekends away with my friends and ticking off experiences from my bucket list. Family are extremely important to me so where ever possible I love to spend as much time with them and enjoy the little things in life, but work is extremely important to me. I am an open book, what you see is what you get, I am honest and like to give my opinion when asked and am constantly trying to improve myself to be a better and more intelligent me. Due to some personal  situations in my life, I like to host charity fundraising events and try raise as much money as possible to help others around the world, these organisations are so close to my heart and I will continue to try help in any way I can.

I feel I have outgrown the UK and I am looking for a new adventure abroad. I fell in love with the Netherlands and have been going as often as I can, the people are so kind and intelligent and the culture is beautiful. I have visited multiple parts of the Netherlands and I can truly say it is one of the most magnificent countries I have ever visited, I would love to start a new life there and experience all the country has to offer. I am currently in the process of learning the wonderful Dutch language to help me connect and grow my opportunities in this beautiful country.

My expertise are mainly in the fraud and financial crime sector, along with banking, compliance, procurement and data analytics. In my current job as an Anti-Crime Specialist, I work with some of the UK’s largest companies and Governents to protect them against fraud and all financial crime. I work closely with the police and CPS (Crown prosecution service) in order to make sure not only justice is served but also as a strong deterrent, to any other individuals who are thinking of taking advantage and committing a criminal act. 
 

i have worked in the banking and financial fraud sector since early 2019 and would love to continue this career journey in The Netherlands.
 

Experience:

Job title: Anti-Crime Specialist – Current role

Working at TIAA provides not only fraud investigation work but also data analytics, court proceeding and getting to work with the Police, CPS and multiple large organisations such as the NHS.

On a day to day basis we gather intel and build a case in order to then prepare interviews under caution at local police stations and gather witness statements to build a strong enough case to provide to CPS, for them then to authorise next steps such as taking the suspects to court to make sure justice is provided fairly. I provide all organisations with fraud prevention seminars and with all investigations fraud prevention is provided, prevention is key! We also provide monthly fraud prevention newsletters and posters for our organisations to hang up in there main staff and patient spaces. Fraud deterrence and fraud prevention are a main responsibility of my procurement proactive investigations, having deterrence in place can prevent further fraud occurring and it’s my responsibility to put things in place to help my organisations. Even though at TIAA I specialise mainly in Healthcare – NHS organisations, private providers and care homes, I also investigate Social Housing, Private Landlords, Charities (small UK based trusts through to international charities), Education – Academies (Further (FE) and Higher Education (HE) providers) and Local Government.

I have gained substantial knowledge around UK law and multiple sectors of fraud and can confidently complete all valid forms such as DPA requests and complete a full thorough investigation from start to finish.I have experience with PACE, NFI and PND.I am highly confident in using systems such as CLUE and all Microsoft systems too. 

I am also taking on more work within the business, I am currently completing internal audits for Workforce Alliance. The audits are for healthcare and recruitment agency’s throughout the UK. When examining the financial report, i must follow auditing standards which are set by the government body. Once I have analysed and investigated all of the companies files, I then write an audit report, explaining what i have done and giving an opinion drawn from their work. Depending on how the audit goes and what information and evidence has been provided, I will either pass or fail the company and based of this decision, the outcome of allowing the company to keep trading with improvements or to close the company down until a further investigation is completed and then see what needs to be urgently improved so they may begin to start trading again. 

Employer: Lloyd’s Banking Group ( Lloyd’s BG, Halifax Bank and Bank of Scotland) 

Job title: (Multiple roles) Senior Fraud Analysis, Business banking manager and personal banking advisor. 

June 2019 – July 2022

Whilst working at Lloyd’s Banking Group I worked in multiple areas within the business, I started off in retail banking, then credit cards and business corporate accounts to then transitioning to business manager in business banking to then settling in banking fraud. When I first started the business I would deal with banking customers daily, helping them manager there accounts, transaction monitoring and providing any banking, savings and investment services they needed. A key skill I developed within this role was developing empathy for people in need and supporting them. In times of crisis people turned to the bank for support and it was important we were there to support them, I loved supporting people and understanding peoples needs. After this I started to go down a different route of business and corporate accounts and would manage a team whilst also continuing to help business customers with setting up accounts at the banking groups and managing them, I would deal with business accounts were there turnover could be as little as £100 right up to £50,000000+. I was involved in business projects like helping Britain prosper project, working with stakeholders to make sure we could provide the best banking for customers. I then decided I would love a new challenge and applied to work in the fraud sector where I stayed there for a year and a half. When I started working in fraud as a senior fraud advisor I would investigate fraud cases, communicate with customers and gather a outcome to there case. Where fraud was proven I would pay the money back to the customer after all checks and investigations were complete. I would also deal with challenging situations and police investigations along with Action Fraud investigations and gather intel for them to proceed criminally. During my years at the company I became confident with transaction monitoring AML and CTF and KYC analysis. I gathered so much knowledge and transferable skills during my time at the company which has opened up more opportunities to be able to transition to other fraud sector opportunities.

I have high school education and continued courses since leaving school. I would be willing to complete any further education if require. When I graduated high school I went straight into work as that’s what I am best at and shows my continued motivation.