DUBAI A Filipino expat has lost thousands in yet another suspected case of bank fraud. This comes just a fortnight after XPRESS reported how an Indian schoolteacher lost almost Dh10,000 in nine fraudulent bank transactions.
The victim this time, Leo Mamaclay, 32, a system engineer at a Dubai-based metal and mining company, says he got a rude shock last Thursday when he got five notifications back-to-back of withdrawals he never made. “I was at work when the texts from my bank came. The first SMS really confused me, but when my phone buzzed five times in a row I knew something was wrong. I got in touch with the bank immediately,” says Mamaclay, who lost Dh7,731.49 to five fraudulent ATM transactions within two minutes. XPRESS has a copy of Mamaclay’s bank statement where it indicates the five withdrawals were made in Mexico - two transactions worth Dh2,985.09, two more transactions worth Dh752.49 and a further debit of Dh256.33 - all between 11:37 and 11:39am on February 19.
“They cleaned up my account in less than two minutes and cared to leave behind Dh61.40.
“The most intriguing thing for me however is the fact that the withdrawals, according to my bank, took place in Mexico. It’s literally another end of the world for me,” he said.
A comment from the bank was not immediately available.
