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29 March 2024

8 cheques forged to steal half a million dirhams

Published
By Eman Al baik

A 35-year-old man, with help from accomplices, allegedly forged eight cheques which he used to withdraw Dh501,000 from another person’s bank account, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

JHA, along with accomplices, is also accused of obtaining the victim’s SIM card to approve passing of the cheques when contacted by the bank.

The victim, AHB, 59, deputy director-general of the company, testified that he was outside the country from September 15 to 23, 2011.

“When I returned from leave, I found out that my SIM card was not working so I replaced it. While doing that, I discovered that on September 22 – a day before my return – someone had issued a replacement SIM of mine.”

On October 7, the victim asked the bank to activate his ATM card and was shocked to know from the bank that the card had been activated on October 3. As he had not done that and did not even collect the ATM and credit cards, he notified the bank’s risks and forgery department.

“We investigated the complaint and we found out that on September 22, the bank received a call from the client’s mobile number and, after answering all identification questions, he asked for a cheque book and asked for changing his mobile number.

“On September 28, the cheque book was delivered to him via Aramex. Later, eight cheques were issued in names of three people and were of Dh85,000, Dh93,000, Dh56,000, Dh80,000, Dh45,000, Dh72,000 and Dh50,000 on September 29. The eighth cheque of Dh20,100 was issued on October 10,” testified AO, 38, Sudanese forgery officer of the bank.

Accidently, some of the bank’s staff visited the ‘client’ in his office on September 19 for promoting his account from ‘ordinary’ to ‘excellent’ and become entitled to more services. “The client applied for a credit card during the visit,” testified the bank officer.

Checking the signatures on the cheques and the SIM replacement application, Criminal Evidences reported its inability to confirm or deny whether he was the one who forged the victim’s signature.

The court will reconvene on April 24.