A fraudster conned £10,000 out of Barclays by posing as the bank's chairman and taking cash from his account, it emerged yesterday.
The conman duped call centre staff into issuing a credit card in the name of banking boss Marcus Agius and then used it to withdraw funds at a high street branch.
Barclaycard has since reimbursed the £800,000-a-year chairman and implemented procedures to prevent a repeat of the incident.
It is believed that the thief used the internet to find out details concerning Mr Agius, such as his date of birth and address.
He then contacted a Barclaycard employee and requested that a new card be sent out.
Armed with the information and the card, the conman entered a branch of the bank and walked away with £10,000 of Mr Agius's cash.
The fraud has prompted a review of procedures at the bank and the implementation of new security checks for senior executives.
It is believed that the fraudster may have also targeted bosses at other leading banks.
A spokesman for Barclaycard said: "It was down to human error, procedures were not followed fully and we have learned from it.
"This is an ongoing battle with professional fraudsters.
"All Barclays customers, from the chairman downwards, have a 100 per cent fraud guarantee as long as they take responsible care of their information."
