Kota Kinabalu: A 27-year-old food delivery rider was on Thursday fined RM100 or two weeks’ jail for fraudulently having someone else’s RM7,997.90 in his bank account.
Mohd Sharkawi Mat Tahah pleaded guilty before Magistrate Lovely Natasha Charles to having the money belonging to one Goh Wei Loong in his CIMB bank account here at 11am on Oct 17, 2019.
The charge stated that Sharkawi failed to account satisfactorily on how he obtained the money.
Inspector Kelvan Elson Maik, prosecuting, in presenting the facts of the case, told the court that on the said day, the complainant (Goh) was on his practical training at the Women and Children’s Hospital in Likas when he received a phone call from a fixed phone line claiming to be from an OCBC bank in Kuala Lumpur.
The fraudulent caller informed him that there was a “credit card under his name” and had been used to withdraw RM7,000 cash at an ATM machine in Bandar Puteri Puchong.
The call was then connected to a man introducing himself to be from the Bank Negara Malaysia and instructed the complainant to provide a TAC number for the purpose of freezing his bank account while the investigation was conducted, the court heard.
The complainant then gave the TAC number and made an online check on his two bank accounts and found that the money in both accounts had been reduced by RM3,998.95 each.
The funds were transferred to CIMB Bank account under the name of Mohd Sharkawi Mat Tahah, said the prosecution.
The court heard that the complainant then lodged a police report after realising he had been deceived by individuals disguising as bank officers, which led to losses totalling RM7,997.90.
Duty counsel Lim Ming Zoong @ Lawrence, representing Sharkawi, applied for a lower fine on the grounds that he works as a food delivery rider and was one of the frontliners in delivering food during the current Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).
Lim said Sharkawi gave full cooperation to police when he was arrested on Oct 22 and was released on police bail the same day.
To a question by the court, Sharkawi said he was not aware of money being deposited in his bank account as his ATM card was with a friend.
Sharkawi said he was helping a friend and gave him his ATM card as the friend wanted help to open a new business and that the friend had promised him a job if he helped him.
The prosecution applied for an adequate sentence. Lovely reminded Sharkawi not to simply give his ATM card to anyone due to rampancy of such fraud cases.
Sharkawi was charged under Section 22A (1) of the Minor Offences Ordinance, which provides for a fine of up to RM100 or up to three months’ jail, or both, on conviction.
.jpg)
