Dubai: Bank employee jailed for selling customers' data to scammer

The employee provided clients' data, including their phone numbers, card and account details, in exchange of money

Published: Thu 13 Jan 2022, 11:52 AM

Updated: Thu 13 Jan 2022, 12:00 PM

By
Afkar Ali Ahmed

A Dubai Criminal Court has sentenced a 44-year-old bank customer services employee to three years imprisonment after finding him guilty of misusing his authority and selling confidential information of 100 customers.

According to the investigation record, the case dates back to March 2021 when one of the bank's clients filed a report stating that she was scammed by a person claiming to be a customer service employee at the bank. The caller said that the bank was updating the data to protect it from hackers.

The victim added that the caller provided her with information about her account details, her bank card number, and the sum of money in the account to allay her fear and not be suspicious of his fraud.

After a few minutes, she received a text message stating that Dh10,000 had been withdrawn from her account.

She called the person back immediately to inquire about the withdrawal, he told her that it was done by mistake and that the amount would be returned after receiving the following message.

The client then noticed another transaction of Dh10,000, and the accused switched off the phone.

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In the police investigation and the bank's fraud prevention department, it was found that the customer service employee accessed the victim's account six times before the date of the fraud; he was arrested.

During his interrogation, he admitted that he had agreed with another person to provide the clients' data, including their phone numbers, card and account details, in exchange for Dh20,000 and a percentage of the stolen amount.

It was revealed that he had stolen personal data of 100 bank customers.