Bank employee steals Dhs1.2m from customer’s account

Ehab Atta, Staff Reporter

A bank’s service agent forged a customer’s signature on a cheque, which he stole form his chequebook, and managed to withdraw Dhs1.2 million from the account concerned. The customer was reportedly completing a transaction at the suspect’s office when the latter surreptitiously stole a cheque from the former’s chequebook.     

According to the records, the suspect endorsed a cheque of Dhs1.2 million through a false signature to be paid against a fake tourist company, after which he had it cleared through a branch of the bank to his own.

In the meantime, the victim travelled abroad and received a notification from the bank indicating that a certain amount had been deducted from his account. He immediately contacted the defendant to inquire about the withdrawal. The accused informed him that an error had occurred and which would be rectified. The victim then called the customer service as the money was not returned to the account. When the matter was checked, it was found that the accused had fled the country.

Recently, ten alleged serial scammers were hauled back into court for siphoning Dhs784, 400 from an elderly Emirati trader’s bank account.

An Asian sales executive at the bank’s branch in Dubai abused his duties to log onto the e-system of another branch. He accessed the bank account of the Emirati trader, 75, prosecutors explained to the Dubai Criminal Court.

He obtained the trader’s personal data and bank account details and disclosed it to a fugitive senior scammer who passed it to an unemployed countryman, a businessman and an employee and a fugitive accomplice.

Three gang members forged a trade licence and company card attributed to the trader. They also forged a letter indicating the trader tasked a man (who already left the UAE) with obtaining for him a replacement SIM card.

They met a telecom company clerk and offered him a Dhs10, 000 bribe to confirm the trader’s telephone number was correct. They gave him the alleged tasked man’s fake ID copy. He entered its data in the e-system.