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Bahrain’s highest court yesterday upheld the four-year prison sentences of two sisters who travelled to Bahrain as ‘tourists’ to help an overseas scammer launder more than BD21,800.
The Syrian women assisted the fraudster based in Jordan by receiving 77 electronic devices worth more than BD31,000, purchased online using stolen credit card information.
The Cassation Court also upheld the ruling to confiscate BD21,847 from the sisters’ assets and to deport the two women after completing their prison terms.
Last year, the High Criminal Court sentenced the 26-year-old Jordanian man in absentia to six years behind bars and fined him BD100,000.
The court heard that the man purchased mobile phones online from a well-known electronics retailer and arranged for the devices to be delivered to the women.
The sisters, aged 35 and 39, were sent to Bahrain on tourist visas to carry out the second part of the defendant’s plan – reselling the phones and transferring a portion of the proceeds to him.
After taking a cut of their ill-begotten gains, they reportedly convinced unsuspecting buyers to transfer the money abroad on their behalf, claiming that they were on tourist visas and therefore unable to make the transfers themselves.
Some of the money was also transported to their co-defendant with the help of unwitting accomplices.
The man was found guilty of stealing from Jordanian, Saudi and Emirati bank accounts, between September and December 2024, after illegally obtaining private ATM card credentials.
A total of BD31,081 worth of devices was purchased from the retailer, although the women had reportedly sent only BD21,846.639 to Jordan at the time of their arrest – representing the proceeds from the sale of 71 gadgets.
The two Syrian women were convicted of facilitating the Jordanian man’s fraudulent scheme in an attempt to make the stolen funds appear legitimate to the authorities.
They were found guilty of further aiding and abetting their co-defendant by purchasing Bahraini phone numbers and providing him with their personal details and address for the deliveries.
During Public Prosecution hearings, the older sister said she came to Bahrain at the behest of a man who, she claimed, had offered her a job as a salesperson at an electronics store in return for a commission.
In Bahrain, she received shipments on his behalf, sold the smartphones and deducted an agreed percentage from the sales proceeds. She admitted that she ultimately sent the money to family members in the UAE.
A total of BD16,456 was sent to the Jordanian through international transfers made in the names of the sisters and other individuals who were unaware of the scheme, while BD5,390 was handed to him in person by travellers heading to Jordan.
Both received BD1,500 in commission for their involvement in the scheme.
The GDN earlier reported that the plot unravelled when the store’s payment service provider, Eazy Pay, received a letter from authorities in Saudi Arabia about scam incidents that may have occurred on the retailer’s website.
The payment company informed the store that there appeared to be a number of suspicious transactions on the platform involving the sale of 77 devices worth more than BD31,000.
In turn, the retailer’s security office contacted the National Centre for Financial Intelligence, reporting a pattern of suspicious mobile phone purchases through the online store.
An investigation confirmed the payment service provider’s report, and revealed that all the devices had been delivered to the sisters.
After being found guilty, the women lodged appeals at both the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court and the Cassation Court, but lost both cases.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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