Police arrest banker on fraud charge

A bank employee was arrested after he allegedly stole more than Dh5 million from customers through a fraud operation using his colleague's personal details, according to Dubai police.

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DUBAI // A bank employee was arrested after he allegedly stole more than Dh5 million from customers through a fraud operation using his colleague's personal details, Dubai police said yesterday.

The Pakistani man, identified as MA, had worked at a local bank for almost two years and targeted unwary clients, according to Lt Col Ahmed al Merri. MA obtained a second identity by using his bank colleague's passport copy to register a phone number in Dubai and open several bank accounts in Pakistan, police said. Using the access he had through his job, he looked up details of customers and their accounts, then allegedly requested new personal identification numbers (PIN) for their online accounts.

He then contacted the defendants directly, telling them he worked at the bank and needed to verify that they received the new PIN. To do this, he required them to recite it to him. At that point, police said, he used the PINs to log into their accounts and siphon out money.

When MA was arrested, he made a full confession, Lt Col al Merri said. Brig Gen Khalil al Mansoori, the chief of the Criminal Investigations Department, warned the public against falling prey to such scams, and to be careful of calls and e-mails asking for personal details.

No court date has been set.