Woman, aides embezzle Dh1.1m by leaking customers' data in Dubai

Photo for illustrative purpose.

A bank employee, who solicited and accepted Dh55,000 worth of bribes in return for doing illegal favours, will spend ten years behind bars in Dubai.
The public prosecution records show the 28-year-old Indian woman - a sales executive - abused her post to log on to the e-system and extract data pertaining to as many as 2,500 clients. They were all located outside UAE at the time, with account balances exceeding Dh500,000, and which had seen no transactions for quite some time.
She revealed the confidential information to a runaway accomplice - a 35-year-old Indian - who, in turn, passed it to another Indian suspect, currently at large. The data included the clients' names, dates of birth, the amount in their accounts and the numbers of their bank cards.
The Court of First Instance convicted the former bank employee of charges of seeking bribes, abuse of post, getting unlawful access to an e-system, divulging confidential data and criminal complicity in fraud. She will be deported after serving her jail time and paying a Dh55,000 fine.
Her four accomplices were found guilty in absentia of forgery, use of forged documents and fraud. They were all sentenced to ten years in jail each.
With the main defendant's conspiracy, four Indian men managed to embezzle more than Dh1.1 million from a client's bank account, after they uploaded the bank smart app on a mobile phone with a SIM card, registered in the customer's name. The four accomplices were ordered to pay a Dh150,000 fine each and be deported afterwards.
They misused the client's mobile number and enjoyed the banking services on his behalf. They had applied for a replacement card in the client's name, after forging a special power of attorney they falsely claimed was issued from a notary public.
The accused also submitted forged documents to a telecommunication provider to obtain the replacement SIM card.
The wrongdoings were committed from December 21, 2015 to January 14, 2016, and a complaint was filed at Al Qusais police station.
The court ruling remains subject to appeal.

• UAE
• Dubai