BY DAY Amar Clement was the trustworthy bank worker at NatWest in Oxford and out of hours he was a Michael Jackson impersonator – but both were facades.

Clement, left, who describes himself as “the closest lookalike on the planet”, is now starting a prison sentence after hatching with three other men a “carefully organised and sophisticated fraud” to swindle customers out of more than £75,000.

With the help of auto dealer Faizan Iqbal, much of the cash was laundered through trading used cars.

In early 2009 Clement, a customer services officer at NatWest in High Street, accessed the bank’s computer system to obtain the details of a dozen account holders.

In total 101 fraudulent transactions and three attempted ones to a value of £75,222.86p were carried out using the ill-gotten details.

At Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday prosecutor William Eaglestone said at least half a dozen used cars were bought over the phone using the customers’ card details and delivered to addresses in Iffley Road, East Oxford and Chill-ingworth Crescent in Wood Farm, as well to homes in Slough, before being sold on for cash.

But the ruse was exposed on March 11, 2009, when a third man, Mohammed Azim, 55, entered NatWest’s Cowley Road branch, where Clement was then working.

He presented an identity document purporting to show he was one of the customers whose details had been cloned and asked to withdraw £12,000 in cash.

Under bank rules Clement, who served him, had to refer the transaction to a superior.

But his colleague grew suspicious and telephoned the real customer to confirm it was not him who had come into the branch.

Clement, of Liddell Road, Cowley, admitted fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and attempted theft.

Azim, of Northern Road, Slough, admitted fraud and possession of a false identity document.

Iqbal, 22, of Lydford Avenue, Slough, admitted conspiracy to commit fraud.

All account holders had their money refunded by NatWest, the court heard.

Felicia Davy, defending father-of-two Clement, said her client was pressurised into carrying out the offences and is “susceptible to pressure or threats from others”.

She said he had gained press coverage after performing as Michael Jackson at a two-day event for underprivileged children in Poland.

He boasts online of performing for the cast of Hollyoaks and in the USA, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Carlisle.

Judge Patrick Eccles called it a “carefully organised and sophisticated fraud” and jailed Clement for 18 months, Iqbal for five months and gave Azim a four-month sentence, suspended for a year, with a six-week curfew and £120 costs.

A fourth man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will be sentenced next year.

Outside court, one of the victims said he was still worried the fraud’s mastermind had not been caught and his address had been given to other criminals.

He said: “It was a really bleak experience. It was the worst possible outcome to find it was an inside job. I hoped it was some electronic thing where someone had gained access from the outside.”