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A SENIOR banker has been accused of stealing the identities of elderly customers, opening bank accounts in their names, and using a voice-changing application to impersonate them on phone calls with banks.
The 38-year-old Bahraini is on trial at the High Criminal Court for allegedly swindling more than BD136,000 from loyal clients, whose accounts and financial portfolios he was entrusted to manage.
Among his alleged victims are a 90-year-old date farmer, as well as a bed-bound, chronically-ill man with dementia, and a grandmother, according to court documents.
The man also reportedly kept files on potential targets – bank clients aged between 60 and 80 – in his house, which included their personal information.
Prosecutors charged the executive with exploiting his position and seniority in the bank to access clients’ accounts to take their money.
He was charged with taking the alleged victims’ photos and CPR cards to remotely open accounts in two banks and two payment platforms, without their knowledge or consent.
Between three victims, he is accused of embezzling BD136,575 which they had deposited at the bank he works at, and transferring them to their new accounts that he covertly opened.
The Public Prosecution further charged the defendant with falsifying digital records, altering customers’ information and gaining unrightful access to their accounts, with an intent to defraud them.
The executive impersonated the hapless bedridden client and allegedly swindled BD61,000 of his money.
The client’s son, who is authorised to act on his behalf, testified about their ordeal.
“My dad is chronically ill, and he’s had Alzheimer’s disease since 2013, but it got much worse in 2022, and so he is not at all aware of his finances,” the Bahraini witness said.
“At some point, we noticed that dad wasn’t receiving text messages from the bank on his phone, and so I went to one of the branches, and was told that the phone number on the file has been changed.”
As for the 90-year-old farmer, born in 1935, a random roadside encounter led him to cross paths with the defendant.
“I was selling dates on the street near my farm in Barbar when I was approached by a man, who said he’ll take a picture of me so I can receive government benefits,” the nonagenarian said.
“He asked for my CPR, and once I began getting suspicious of him, he told me ‘don’t be scared’.
“I didn’t end up receiving any benefits.”
A 75-year-old man, who has been a client of the international bank for the last 50 years, testified that the suspect was assigned as his account manager, and had earlier taken his picture with his phone.
During an audit, a former colleague of the banker’s who has since moved to a new financial institution, identified the defendant’s voice in recordings as he tried to open accounts for the alleged victims.
“As part of an audit, we found numerous attempts to start accounts on our application, but the requests were unsuccessful since the IP address of the applicant was located in the UK,” the Bahraini woman said.
“During the identity confirmation stage on our app, it appears that the person operating the camera was not the applicant.
“I heard the suspect’s voice in the background, which I recognised since he has a unique tone.”
A National Audit Office official stated that during the video identification procedure, either the defendant’s office appeared in the background, or the inside of his car.
She added that a search of the defendant’s phone revealed that two voice-changing apps were installed on it.
Judges adjourned the hearing to September 1 for defence arguments.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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