A Canberra woman accused of hatching a plot with a fellow employee to fleece thousands of dollars from ActewAGL customers has been released on bail.
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Jessica Kate Anderson, 29, faced court earlier this month charged with 15 fraud offences after it was alleged she skimmed some $13,000 from ActewAGL customer accounts between March and May.
Her colleague and friend, Taylor Jade Geoghegan, 20, also fronted the ACT Magistrates Court accused of 15 counts of being knowingly involved in the fraud.
Neither woman has entered pleas.
Court documents alleged the women, who were employed as contractors in the company's call centre, devised the plan in a series of exchanges on their ActewAGL work email accounts.
"OMG I HAVE THE BEST IDEA," Ms Geoghegan allegedly wrote in an email to her colleague on March 30.
She allegedly then sent a link to a news article about a shoplifter who stole $50,000 worth of phones from a store in the United States, later writing "I think it's an excellent idea".
Ms Anderson allegedly replied: "I agree and would be pretty easy I reckon. Destruction starts todayyyyy".
It's alleged the pair looked for accounts in credit and then saved the personal details. They then arranged for the credit to be refunded into various bank accounts, including one belonging to Ms Anderson.
Both women resigned from the recruitment service they worked for on May 10. They bought plane tickets to Las Vegas for December that same day, court documents said.
The alleged scheme began to unravel when a customer queried a refund that appeared on her bill and ActewAGL launched an internal investigation.
Police searched Ms Anderson's home on June 30, the same day she allegedly sent Ms Geoghegan a text message that read, "Are u[sic] calling me on private? X".
When her friend replied with "Nope," she allegedly texted back: " Ahh gad[sic] what if its[sic] the police?"
She was arrested later that night and has been behind bars since.
Last week, Ms Anderson's brother Christopher Anderson, 25, of Chisholm, faced court separately, pleading guilty to phoning a man who worked with his sister, and threatening to kill him, the day after her arrest.
Prosecutors did not oppose Ms Anderson's bail application when she faced court on Monday.
She sobbed as she was released on conditions that included she surrender her passport, report to police twice a week and not contact Ms Geoghegan, her brother, or any employee of ActewAGL or Icon Water.
The case returns to court next month.
