A financial consultant who used her position to steal an elderly couple’s life savings was able to deceive others through a convincing facade, according to her alleged victims.Barbara Tannock, former vice president of private banking at Capital G, ran housekeeping and home care businesses on the side.She was jailed for six months on Friday, for stealing $76,500 from an elderly couple.Even after she was brought to court on charges of theft, Tannock ran a thriving operation which former employees now allege was a scam.Charlita Campbell once ran Tannock’s housekeeping company Homeworx.She believes the $70,000 cheque Tannock produced in court on Friday to replace most of the cash she stole from Alice and Voohees Place, “probably came from our money”.She started work for Tannock as a staff manager on June 1, 2011.“I left a job to work for someone who didn’t want to pay benefits. It was the biggest mistake of my life,” Ms Campbell said.As the company accrued part-time staff, Ms Campbell said they received paperwork for health insurance benefits that were deducted from pay cheques, but never paid.“We had two employees go to the hospital for slips and falls on the job,” she said. “That’s how they found out they weren’t insured. That’s what opened the door for everybody else.“One lady was on a court order to pay child support. Barbara knew this. There was a letter from the court about taking out a certain amount of money.“It was being taken out, but it wasn’t all getting paid. That girl ended up getting incarcerated for the weekend when she was picked up by police.”Tannock borrowed $3,000 from her to purchase a computer last year but only paid $1,000 back by December.“I kept begging her for it, because I had children in school,” recalled Ms Campbell. “Her word to me was that I had no consideration for her company.“I threatened to take the computer, but I never did, and I never got my money either. Six days into this January, I woke up and no longer had a job. I personally think it was because I’d kept asking.”She and 12 other employees took out claims against Tannock in civil court under lawyer Taaj Jamal. Ms Campbell estimates the monies owed to her are between $11,000 and $13,000.“We got a judgement and put a judgement summons out on her but she didn’t show up in court for that,” she said.“I’m just waiting for our lawyer to say when she will come to court from prison. I want my money.”US national Kelsey Conway told The Royal Gazette she fell victim to another business operated by Tannock.She said they met after she spotted an advertisement for caretakers at Care at Home“Barb seemed very interested in me because of all my experience and wanted to interview me as soon as she could,” Ms Conway said.“We talked over the phone about what the pay would be and hours, and she explained that they do care for the elderly and families with children and also do housekeeping.“I told her I prefer to work with children but I would do whichever. It was about two weeks later when she called me back to interview me as she had a family that was interested in me.”The interview was held at a hotel, with Tannock explaining that her company was still new.Recalled Ms Conway: “She was dressed very professionally, had a friendly demeanour about her, greeted me with a hand shake and a smile.“We talked about the company and my wage for a good 30 minutes, and then she gave my contract.”The contract was “a booklet of computer paper stapled with an insurance plan that I could take if need be”, she said.“My interview was very informal, pretty much just explaining to me about the job.”Tannock told her she would have to pay $700 for her work permit, but “she would cover the rest”, Ms Conway said.She said she didn’t understand that a permit would have to be issued before she was allowed to work.She worked without one for a couple days before “I was told I could be kicked off the Island”.Ms Conway said she received no pay for three weeks. Tannock said a bank error was the problem.After repeated requests she said she received $400 although Tannock had billed the client family for $700.Although she said Tannock persistently underpaid her, Ms Conway said she was “sweet talked” into staying.“She told me she was still waiting for my work permit to clear, but things would get better and she didn’t want to lose me as a staff as she thought I was a good asset to her company,” Ms Conway recalled. “I fell for it and felt like I was being a mean person by quitting on her so I agreed to stay.“She seemed like such a nice lady and really seemed like she knew what she was doing. I just thought maybe things were all messed up because she was a single mom-of-two, starting a new company, and moving into a new building.”However, after contacting the Department of Immigration, Ms Conway learned that no work permit had ever been approved for her.She concluded the business wasn’t legitimate and decided to leave however Tannock demanded $700 for “cancelling” the permit, Ms Conway said.Her former boss dropped the matter when she mentioned speaking with Immigration officials, she added.In the end, Ms Conway said, the experience soured her impression of the Island, and she returned home to the US.“After moving thousands of miles away from my home I could not believe this had happened to me,” she said. “I was very sceptical about even moving to Bermuda in the first place, and then this happens to me.”After reading of Tannock’s formal charges in The Royal Gazette, she said: “It all made sense to me. How could someone who seemed to be a great business lady with a great family take advantage of people like that?”