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Dubai telecom firm employee embezzles Dh29,000 reward points

Dubai - He has pleaded not guilty to embezzlement and forgery charges

A customer service employee at a telecommunications provider has gone on trial for allegedly embezzling customers' 3.4 million reward points worth Dh29,000.
The 25-year-old Egyptian allegedly converted the points into free purchase vouchers, and used them at various outlets to buy food, a travel ticket, cinema tickets and other items.
The alleged wrongdoings lasted from July 2015 to October 2016. The complaint was filed at Al Rashidyah police station.
Public prosecution records show the employee used his access privileges to log into the system and then enter the customers' accounts in the reward program by using his own mobile number.
He then claimed to have lost the password, so that he would be given the new codes sent to his own number, which he then used to access the customers' accounts and used their reward points for his own benefit.
He pleaded not guilty to embezzlement and forgery charges in the Court of First Instance.
One of the Emirati customers, whose reward points were embezzled, said, "An unknown person stole my reward points to make purchases online and buy a travel ticket. I have a bank card and each time I use it I get points added on my loyalty membership number - as per an agreement between the telecommunication provider and various shops and businesses."
"I discovered, however, that 708,000 points were lost from my membership account and were transferred to vouchers worth Dh4,725. I contacted my telecommunications provider but could not understand what happened.
"When I contacted the portal on which some of the purchases were made, I was told they would reveal the identity of that person when requested by the authorities," the 34-year-old said.
mary@khaleejtimes.com