Lucky OFW in UAE gets reimbursement from bank after losing money to ATM fraud

An overseas Filipino worker lost funds he saved for his wife's delivery allegedly due to a fraudulent ATM withdrawal, but could count himself lucky as the bank reimbursed his lost money, a UAE news site reported Thursday.

The Dubai bank reimbursed the funds of sales executive Bernardo Umali, 36, on "humanitarian grounds," Gulf News reported.

“We have decided to temporarily reverse the amount to the customer’s account as an exception till such time our investigation is complete. The matter is solved as of now and the customer is a happy man,” a bank spokesperson told Gulf News XPRESS.

“Such things happen. It’s not uncommon. Once we establish that Umali’s card chip and pin were indeed stolen and used fraudulently, we will close the case permanently,” the spokesman added.

Umali, who earns Dh7,000 a month, had saved for the birth of his second child, who was born June 2. He said he learned of the questionable ATM withdrawals last May 26, when he got notifications on his cell phone.

“I was shocked to see the messages," Umali said.

According to him, the two withdrawals were made at around 7:20 p.m., one for Dh4,500 and another for Dh200. The withdrawals were made within a minute of each other.

While he first thought his ATM card was stolen, he checked his wallet and confirmed his card was still with him.

"My worst fears came true when I checked my account online. It showed a withdrawal of Dh4,700 had been made. That’s when I realized I was robbed, and that too just a few days before my wife was to deliver our second child,” he said.

Umali reported the incident to the bank. When Gulf News' XPRESS contacted the bank on his request, the bank promised to look into the matter. —Joel Locsin/KBK, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more