Dubai: A customer service employee was sentenced to 10 years in jail for stealing Dh1 million from a customer’s account, a Dubai Court of First Instance heard.
The Egyptian defendant, 42, who is still at large, conned the customer by using magic ink when the latter wrote his name on the cheque to deposit the money in his account. When the name disappeared because of the ink, the defendant put his name on the cheque, cashed the money and escaped.
According to official records, in April 2015, the 60-year-old Syrian victim deposited Dh1 million in a trust fund. In July 2015, the defendant asked him to come to the bank as it generated an interest of Dh1,850.
“He told me that they need to break the trust fund for me to collect the interest. I gave him my cheques to write the details. He used his pen to write the details and I used my pen to sign on the Dh1 million cheque to deposit the money in my current account. I signed another cheque of Dh1,850 to also deposit it in my account,” said the victim in records.
After depositing the Dh1 million in his account, the money was withdrawn the next day by the defendant who fled the country.
“The defendant forged the cheque as he used magic ink to write the details on the cheque. When the details disappeared he wrote his name on the cheque and withdrew the money.”
The bank launched an investigation and reported the incident to Dubai Police.
However, the bank returned the money to the victim’s account after two months.
The defendant was charged with illegally obtaining Dh1 million, forgery and using forged documents.
The court fined him Dh1 million and ordered to deport him after serving his jail time.
