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A restaurant worker who was sentenced to three years in prison and fined BD1,000 for using stolen ATM cards to pay his and others’ utility bills has lost an appeal against the ruling.
The 40-year-old expatriate deposited BD2,453 from his victims’ cards, all issued by banks from outside of Bahrain, to settle outstanding Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) charges.
He was convicted for fraud using someone-else’s card PIN without the consent of the card owner and using a computer system to gain unlawful access into bank accounts.
The appellant was an accomplice in running the illicit money-making scheme, appeal court judges heard.
The two men would agree to pay the EWA customers’ bills for less money than the original fees.
After one of the payments, EWA became aware of a fraud attempt using a foreign bank card, although it was not specified how.
EWA officials investigated the matter which eventually led them to the suspects.
The appellant executed payments but the scam was the idea of his co-defendant, as highlighted in the original case.
He admitted that he was given invoices and money and asked to settle the outstanding bills.
One of the victims, whose bank card was hijacked for the scheme, received a report that her card was used for fraud. The card, which was in her name, actually belonged to her company.
Supreme Criminal Appeals Court judges upheld the lower court’s ruling.
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