Debit card scam: How these workers in UAE were duped of their salaries

Ras Al Khaimah - The case unfolded when a number of workers lodged several complaints with the police.

Three Asian residents have appeared at the Ras Al Khaimah Misdemeanour Court on charges of conning the workers who are unfamiliar with using their debit cards, and stealing their salaries.
As per court records, the case unfolded when a number of workers lodged several complaints with the RAK police, against an unidentified man who played tricks on them and siphoned off their salaries.
"We did not know how to use our bank debit cards to collect our salaries," they said, in separate cases.
An unidentified person standing by the ATM machine offered us help, they added.
"He inserted our debit card, keyed in the secret code we gave him, but claimed there was something wrong with our cards and we had to check with our banks and companies, and gave the cards back to us."
When checking with their companies, the concerned told them there was nothing wrong with the cards, and their entire salaries were already collected.
The shocked workers alerted the RAK police who initiated investigations and discovered a cunning gang of three men.
CID officers discovered the fraud after checking the footage from the surveillance cameras fixed at the ATM machines
The RAK police managed to track down the suspects and referred them to the RAK public prosecution where the first one admitted to their crime, while the second denied the charges.
The trio was then referred to the RAK Misdemeanour Court where the first suspect told the court that he had learned the entire fraud from a friend (third suspect).
"I used to choose the victims from the workers who are not aware about using their bank debit cards to collect their salaries by standing close to an ATM machine," he said.
"I used to offer help to the victims, got their card pin numbers, inserted their cars in the ATM machines, but swiftly replaced the cards with others claiming something wrong with their cards, advising them to check with their companies or banks."
When the victims left the place, the first suspect immediately inserted the real cards, keyed in the secret code, and withdrew the entire salaries, while the role of the second suspect was to monitor the place to make sure none of the workers came back.
The third suspect, the mastermind of the crime, proved to have been implicated in similar cases and was serving a jail term in Dubai.
The first suspect later denied about the monitoring role of the second suspect whom he claimed to have accused because of old disputes. However, the footage of surveillance cameras showed him (second suspect) standing by the first while withdrawing the workers' salaries.
The second suspect denied the charges and said that he was had nothing to do with the case, and was only standing by his friend (first suspect) "thinking that he was withdrawing his salary."
The court, presided over by Chief Judge Fathi Al Qallaa, ordered adjournment of the case to next week to issue its ruling.
ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com
 

• Ras Al Khaimah