TWO expatriates are standing trial at the High Criminal Court for allegedly illegally using the money of an elderly Bahraini woman without her permission to purchase a BD295 smartphone.
A 24-year-old driver from Malkiya reportedly colluded with the elderly woman’s 39-year-old domestic worker to take her bank card which he used at a well-known hypermarket to purchase the device.
The Indian nationals are facing charges relating to using the victim’s electronic signature, her bank card and her money without authorisation.
According to court documents, the woman’s grandson, a 27-year-old teacher with the Education Ministry, was visiting her on September 23, when he asked to check her bank account due to some trouble she was having.
He found on the banking app that she only had BD34 left in her account, even though she had much more than BD300 the last time he had checked, not too long ago.
When asked, the grandmother denied withdrawing any money or making a big purchase in the intervening period.
The grandson immediately contacted the bank where an employee found that a transaction had been made on the card for BD295 for a smartphone.
The 27-year-old visited the hypermarket and got the phone number of the person who had purchased the phone, aware that all major purchases, especially electronics, needed contact details of the customers.
From the information he gathered, he suspected that the domestic worker, who was hired to help his grandmother with household chores, was involved in the incident.
He confronted her and took her phone, and entered the contact details he had received from the hypermarket. It turned out to be the number of the driver.
The grandson filed a complaint with the authorities, who launched an investigation into the incident and identified the duo.
The authorities looked at the security footage from the hypermarket, which showed the driver purchasing the phone with a bank card. It also reportedly showed him entering a PIN into the card machine.
The fraudulent transaction happened on September 19 at around 9.02pm, according to the security footage.
The duo was arrested and upon interrogation they both admitted to the charges against them.
The man stated that he had asked the maid to steal the elderly woman’s bank card and PIN.
The woman added that they planned to sell the phone and send the proceeds to India.
They were both referred for provisional detention, and the case was sent to the Public Prosecution which referred it to the court.
When questioned by judges, the accused admitted to the charges against them.
The case was adjourned until Monday for further deliberation.
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