‘TikTok addicted’ mum who stole £300,000 from work to spend on tokens is jailed

Katherine Greenall, 29, sobbed as she was told jail was the only punishment for the ‘massive’ fraud (Picture: Merseyside Police/Getty)

A mum-of-two who stole more than £400,000 from her workplace and blew most of it on TikTok ‘tokens’ for her favourite content creators has been jailed.

Katherine Greenall, 29, sobbed as she was told jail was the only punishment for the ‘massive’ fraud, committed against the car company where she worked as an accounts manager.

She plundered £443,500 from the accounts of New Reg Ltd between February 2024 and April this year, blowing just over £300,000 of that in hundreds of payments on the social media app.

Greenall later told police that gifting tokens to her favourite content creators ‘became an obsession’.

Paul Becker, defending, said she ‘may have been suffering from a form of addiction to TikTok’, adding: ‘What she was getting out of it was entertainment. That is where the majority of the money was going towards.’

Greenall also spent huge sums on holidays, hotel stays, shopping, Amazon purchases and even a family solicitor, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

She pleaded guilty to a single charge of fraud by abuse of position and was jailed for 28 months, the Liverpool Echo reports.

Greenall plundered £443,500 from the accounts of New Reg Ltd between February 2024 and April this year (Picture: Merseyside Police)

The court heard Greenall started working at the company as a customer service manager in April 2021 before being promoted to accounts manager in December the following year.

Christopher Taylor, prosecuting, said she was viewed by bosses as a ‘vital part of the company’s growth’ and as someone who was ‘both trusted and respected’.

Greenall was able to siphon off the money by manipulating financial reports and diverting cash into her own bank account. In all, she made 121 unauthorised transactions.

Bosses eventually confronted her over low profits, with the court told how Greenall pledged to investigate the matter before making a last payment of £20,000 into her own account and fleeing the office citing a ‘false family illness’.

She came clean about the betrayal and was arrested last month.

The court heard the fraud put the entire company at risk of going under and dozens of her former colleagues at risk of redundancy.

Mr Becker said: ‘This was an abuse of trust on a massive scale. She is thoroughly ashamed of what she has done and has come today prepared for what might be said to be the inevitable.’

Paul Becker, defending, said she ‘may have been suffering from a form of addiction to TikTok’ (Picture: AFP via Getty)

Jailing her, Judge Neil Flewitt KC said: ‘You are a good mum to two young children, one of whom has particular challenges.

‘You were trusted and respected. Your employers were aware of the challenges that you faced at home and made allowed allowances.

‘You repaid their trust in you by stealing from them on a massive scale.’

The court heard Greenall’s two children, a six-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy with severe ADHD, will be cared for by a sister while she serves her sentence.

Judge Flewitt added: ‘It is a tragedy that those children are going to suffer as a result of your dishonesty.

‘I have taken the view that there is simply no way to avoid what I am sure you have been advised is the inevitable sentence of imprisonment.

‘This is simply too much money and too much damage caused here.’

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