Bank employee leaks customers' details, helps embezzle over Dh238,000

He accepted Dh100,000 in bribes for his unlawful favours.

A former sales executive of a bank branch has been charged at the Dubai Court of First Instance after he allegedly leaked confidential data pertaining to 25 customers.
Because of his abuse of powers and breach of trust, the 31-year-old Asian man enabled other accomplices, currently at large, to embezzle Dh238,702 from the account of a British customer by impersonating him.
The bank employee allegedly solicited and accepted Dh100,000 in bribes for his unlawful favours.
The alleged wrongdoings date back to and prior to March 22, 2017. A case was registered at Al Rafaa police station.
Public prosecution records show that confidential details of 25 customers' files were leaked and belonged to accounts that exceeded Dh300,000 in balance and had been dormant for some time.
The second defendant, a 30-year-old Asian, who offered the bribes to the bank employee, could together with others, withdraw funds from the victim's account through a SIM card swap. They impersonated the victim and applied for a replacement SIM card in his name on the same number that he had and was linked to his bank.
They accordingly got a bank card with which they ran the fraudulent transactions.
During investigation, the victim, a 58-year-old British manager, said that he had a Dh1.5 million balance in his account. The last time he checked it was before he travelled to Kazakhstan. "I learned about the fraudulent withdrawals when I was on the trip. I got a call from the bank telling me that my account was blocked. I knew later that cash had been withdrawn to buy gold and other transactions were done to donate cash to charities. I did not do any of those."
The victim learned that a fraudster approached his telecom services provider with a passport having his name (the victim's) and the photo of an Asian man.
The fraudsters managed to get a SIM card replacement on the victim's own mobile number with which they availed of online banking services in his name.
A ruling will be issued on August 27.

mary@khaleejtimes.com
 

• Dubai