Two jailed over withdrawal of MVR 19,000 after email hack

The Criminal Court has sentenced two individuals to prison after finding them guilty of unlawfully accessing an email account and fraudulently withdrawing MVR 19,000 from a bank account.

The prosecution charged Ali Imran, Heenaamaage, GDh. Fiyoari and Mohamed Shah, H. Melavahi, Male’ with exercising unauthorized control over another person’s property.

The incident involved the unauthorised access of an email account belonging to an individual from Gn. Fuvahmulah. Subsequently, MVR 20,300 was transferred from the victim’s Bank of Maldives (BML) account to a third party’s Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) account in GA. Gemanafushi. The third party was then contacted and informed that the transfer had been made in error. They were asked to retain MVR 1,300 and return the remaining MVR 19,000 to the victim’s account.

After the funds were returned to the Fuvahmulah resident’s account, the MVR 19,000 was immediately transferred to the BML account of defendant Mohamed Shah. Both defendants then went together to an ATM at IGMH to withdraw the money.

During the trial, both defendants denied the charges and attempted to place the blame on each other. Shah claimed that he had provided his account number because Imran told him the money was his salary. He added that Imran had given him a MVR 3,000 "tip" for withdrawing the money. Imran, meanwhile, claimed that he had only accompanied Shah to the ATM to give him a lift and had received just MVR 300.

Presiding Judge Muzammil Nasir noted that both individuals had gone together to withdraw the money within minutes of the transfer, demonstrating that the act was premeditated and carried out with the knowledge that the funds belonged to another person. The Judge stated that even if Shah believed the money was Imran’s salary, receiving a "tip" of MVR 3,000 for withdrawing MVR 19,000 was not something a reasonable person would consider legitimate. The Judge also noted that there was no justifiable reason for Imran to have been inside the ATM booth during the withdrawal.

The Court further highlighted that police investigations and testimonies indicated that Imran had previously used similar tactics involving intermediaries to withdraw money in other scams.

After finding the charges proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the Criminal Court imposed the following sentences:

Ali Imran, who has a prior criminal record, was sentenced to one year in prison, with the term increased by one degree from the basic sentencing guideline. After deducting the 25 days he had spent in custody, he is required to serve 11 months and five days.

Mohamed Shah was sentenced to the basic term of nine months and 18 days. After deducting the 25 days he had spent in custody, he is required to serve eight months and 23 days.

Additionally, the Court ordered Mohamed Shah to pay MVR 19,000 in losses to the victim, Ibrahim Zareer Hassan, through the Civil Court within 12 months.