For three years he had access to a client’s savings, easily withdrawing 182,851 euros. At the center of the story, which emerged in Rome, is a 70-year-old former banking consultant, sent to trial on a series of charges which include computer fraud, unauthorized access to the computer system and improper use of payment instruments.
How the scam worked: the cards requested without the customer’s knowledge
The victim is a Roman lawyer, a long-time customer of the credit institution. According to the reconstruction of the accusation, the professional never authorized the operations nor requested the issuing of the cards used for payments. The affair also involves the former consultant’s husband, a 72-year-old who works in the insurance and financial sector.
The consultant allegedly exploited access to the institute’s IT systems to use the client’s digital identity. In September 2019 he requested two debit cards and a credit card in his name, without the owner’s knowledge.
The cards would have been delivered to the workplace of the consultant and her husband, also a consultant in the insurance-financial sector. From that moment, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, the withdrawals from the ATMs and the purchases made using the payment instruments registered in the lawyer’s name began.
The disputed operations continued until October 2022. The investigations also identified the involvement of a third person, who remained unidentified at the moment.
The bank summons the customer: the scam is discovered
The story was brought to light by an official of the same credit institution, who became suspicious of some anomalous movements. The lawyer was urgently summoned by the bank. Only during that meeting did he discover the existence of the cards and the operations carried out on his accounts, declaring that he had never requested those payment instruments nor authorized the withdrawals.
The institute therefore launched an internal investigation which made it possible to trace the consultant and reconstruct the use of the cards. According to the accusation, the shortfalls would have had particularly serious consequences on the economic situation of the professional, to the point of reducing her to conditions of poverty. The victim became a civil party in the criminal proceedings.
The trial of the banking consultant and the accusations against her husband
The judge of the preliminary hearings of the Rome court ordered the seventy-year-old to be sent to trial. The charges against the consultant include fraud using IT systems, unauthorized access to a protected IT system, impersonation, falsehoods committed by public officials and the improper use and falsification of payment instruments.
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The procedural position of the husband is different, as he was also accused of falsification of the documents. The 72-year-old was sentenced to carry out 200 hours of community service.
For the consultant, however, the proceedings still have to reach the hearing: a judge will decide.