A BARISTA stole £4,000 from a café — by taking customers’ payments with his own card machine.
Brandon Leung, 26, spent months using a £70 SumUp chip and pin device to funnel cash to his bank account.
He was rumbled when a punter at posh chain Joe & The Juice complained after she was charged £94 instead of £42.10.
Leung tried in vain to refund her with the reader before taking cash out of an ATM to give to her.
Smoothies specialist Leung was suspended when she alerted his bosses who called in police, JPs heard.
Leung, who had a past conviction for theft by an employee, later admitted stealing £4,016.20 in an apology to the firm.
Prosecutor Ellen Alexander said: “He thought he could work out an agreement with the company to pay the money off.
“The offence was of a sophisticated nature.
“It was an abuse of position and power.”
Ruta Mikailaite, defending, said Leung — £2,000 in debt — had been demoted after making an ad for his online business at work.
He told her he got the idea to use a chip-and-pin reader after seeing senior staff “use their own card machines” to take payments.
Westminster JPs told Leung he was lucky to avoid a jail term and instead sentenced him to a 12-month community order and 120 hours’ unpaid work.
Leung, of Ladbroke Grove, West London, admitted fraud.
He was fined £200 due to his lack of funds and was let off repaying the company despite his solicitor saying he had offered to.
