Bank employee in Gandía arrested for defrauding elderly foreign woman of €25,000 by changing her PIN
The Guardia Civil arrested a 29-year-old bank employee in Gandía accused of embezzling €25,000 from an elderly foreign client who lived alone in Spain.
Bank worker detained in Gandía for defrauding elderly vulnerable woman of €25,000
The Guardia Civil arrested a 29-year-old Spanish bank employee in Gandía (Valencia), accused of embezzling €25,000 from the account of an elderly foreign client who lived alone in Spain following the death of her husband. According to ABC, the detainee allegedly deliberately selected the victim for her condition of vulnerability.
The investigation was launched in March following a complaint filed at official premises. The victim stated that between 16 January and 6 June, continuous withdrawals were made from her bank account using a card issued in her name, which she had not authorised.
Manipulation of PIN and access to the banking application
The employee's modus operandi combined internal access to the client's data with an in-person deception tactic. During one of the elderly woman's visits to the branch, the worker asked her to change the PIN for access to the banking application in front of him, thereby verifying the new password. Upon returning home, the woman found that the code no longer worked: the employee had memorised it and used it to operate from his own mobile phone.
The victim had visited the bank on several occasions to cancel the card, always dealing with the same employee. The latter, however, allegedly failed to process the cancellation, maintaining access to both the physical card and the virtual version linked to the application.
ATM cameras identify the perpetrator
The bank informed investigators that all withdrawals had been made at ATMs located in Gandía. Analysis of the security footage made it possible to identify the perpetrator: it was the same worker with whom the complainant had dealt in her transactions at the branch.
Officers from the investigation unit of the Main Post in Oliva established that the employee had requested the card in the client's name without her consent and had blocked its cancellation when the victim requested it. The total amount defrauded amounts to €25,000, according to sources from the Guardia Civil.
Profile of the victim, key to the selection
The detainee chose the victim for being an elderly woman, foreign, with no relatives in Spain, and living alone after being widowed. The proceedings initiated by the officers were handed over to the Civil and Investigative Section of the Gandía Plaza number 3 Court, where the detainee faces charges of continued fraud.
Source: ABC