Man jailed for withdrawing money using stolen ATM card

Doha: A man was sentenced for one year in jail and fined QR10,000 for withdrawing money using a stolen ATM card.

This case came up in court headed by Judge Mustafa Al Badwihi, along with fellow judges Ghanem Al Khayarin, Fatima Abdullah Al Mal, and Abdullah Thaqil Al Shammari.

The prosecution accused the person of withdrawing money by using an ATM card issued by the victim’s bank.
When the victim discovered that an amount of QR2,850 had been withdrawn from his card, he informed the police.
While reviewing the surveillance camera of the ATM machine from which the amount was withdrawn, the victim identified the defendant, who confessed to the investigators that he had withdrawn money using the stolen card.

He said that he took the ATM card, along with the passcode, from one of the drawers in the room he shared with his friend. He went to the ATM and asked a person who was there to withdraw the money because he didn’t know how to use it.
Article 381 of the Penal Code said that any person who unlawfully appropriates the funds of banks or customers by means of the use of ATM cards issued by the bank shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
Since the accused was a foreigner and the judgment was issued in a crime of dishonour and honesty, the court ordered that he be expelled from the State pursuant to article 77 of the Penal Code.

The Peninsula newspaper posts these kind of legal cases from the court, to raise awareness about the dangers of violating laws or infringing on others in the country.