Bank employee’s credit card scam lasted 12 years

A  47-YEAR-OLD bank employee was arrested on Sunday for allegedly embezzling a total of 480,000 euros through a credit card fraud scheme.

According to the police, the 47-year-old forged a total of 66 credit cards between the years 1999 and 2011. The cards were issued under the names of non-existent people and were used by the suspect to withdraw small amounts of cash from ATM machines all over Cyprus. The suspect withdrew money from cash points of many different banks, ensuring that his actions went undetected.

According to the head of the Nicosia Criminal Investigation Department (CID), George Chirinos, the suspect succeeded in concealing the fraud by arranging for the credit cards’ statements not to be sent to the addresses provided.

“The statements were never sent to the supposed clients, and so they were never bounced back to the bank,” Chirinos said.

Suspicions were raised, however, when the 47-year-old issued a credit card under an existing person’s name. When the person went to the bank to have a credit card issued, he was informed that there already was one under his name.

An arrest warrant was issued against the suspect, who will be held in custody for eight days while the CID continues investigating the case

Source: Cyprus Mail