A customer service employee at a telecommunication provider, accused of embezzling 3.4 million reward points worth Dh29,000 belonging to customers, has been sentenced to six months in jail.

The 25-year-old Egyptian was accused of transferring the points into free purchase vouchers and using them at various outlets to buy food, travel ticket, cinema tickets and other items.

The Court of First Instance convicted him of embezzlement and forgery charges and ordered him to pay a Dh150,000 fine and return Dh29,000 to his former workplace. He will be deported after serving his jail term.

The wrongdoings were carried out from July 2015 to October 2016. The complaint was filed at Al Rashidiya police station.

Public prosecution records show the employee used his access privilege to log into the system and then enter the customers' accounts in the reward programme by using his own mobile number. He then claimed he lost the password to be given and the new codes that he sent to his own number. He used the new codes to access the customer's accounts and make use of the reward points they had for his own benefit.

One of the Emirati customers, whose reward points were embezzled, said, "An unknown person stole the reward points I had to make purchases online and buy a travel ticket. I have a bank card and each time I use it I get points added on my loyalty membership number as per an agreement between the telecom provider and various shops and businesses."

"I discovered, however, that 708,000 points were lost from my membership account and were transferred to vouchers worth Dh4,725. I contacted my telecom provider but could not understand what happened.

"When I contacted the portal on which some purchases were made I was told they would reveal the identity of that person when requested by the authorities," the 34-year-old said.

Source: .khaleej Times