Money withdrawn from accounts belonging to MH370 passengers

originally posted by: PraetorianAZ
Maybe family withdrawing the funds? IDK it is weird. seems like a lot of money so that makes me think it might be family. But to do it from an ATM that makes it more suspicious this whole thing stinks and we still have zero answers.

In Asia, it is quite common to have 2 ATM cards, one for the wife and one for the husband. You only need the the ATM card plus the PIN number to withdrawal money. When you go to the cashier at the bank, you must have the bank book, or else you can not withdraw money even if you have the PIN number and in many countries the family name stamp also.
I know, I live here.

a reply to: freee

In the U.S.,we have cameras in almost all of our atms.

I don't know if it's like that in most of the world,but pictures would pretty much solve the mystery.

Inside Bank job, employee of the bank...?

How about the actual person the card belongs to? Plane landed, passengers got off, and we are seeing some leniency/sloppiness on behalf of whoever pulled it off.

Just speculating.

a reply to: freee

If someone in my family died and I had access to their accounts, I would want to access those accounts on my own off the books rather than get it the formal way and give the tax man his share.

The article and the police cited in it do imply this money was accessed illegally, that this was the result of a crime. That would further imply it was not done by a member of the deceased family. The article also states these accounts were all accessed through the same machine and in a same time period. At this point it could either be a credit card fraud gang operating outside of the banks or, as the article also states, it could be an "inside job," some persons within the banking system that would have the ability to make up new ATM cards and assign new pins to them, passing them off to an accomplice to then raid the accounts via an ATM.

If it had been a family member, it wouldn't have been four different accounts, though. I mean, unless people from different families got together and planned this.

I don't doubt that some family members might be using the missing people's money, after all, if my parents went missing, I'd need their money - as I do now, since I live with them - and I have their cards and pin codes.

But four different accounts and such a huge amount of money? Sounds like a scam. A very unfortunate one, but it's been a month now... they'll probably never be caught, unless they work for the bank and left some sort of evidence behind.

My cash machine at my bank will only give a max of £300 a day!

Same here. Inside job it looks like.

a reply to: freee
UPDATE: TWO ARRESTED IN THIS CASE.
Here's link to update:www.thestar.com.my...

a reply to: freee

It is called identity theft.

Happens all the time.

Especially when tragic events occur.

The scum always comes out of the wood work.

a reply to: harkna

AH HA! so, it was an inside job.

Federal Commercial Crimes Investigation Department director Comm Datuk Mortadza Nazarene said Bukit Aman was hunting for two more suspects, including a Pakistani man, over the siphoning.

A HSBC Bank Malaysia officer and her husband, both 33, have already been arrested.

The Pakistani is one Ali Farran, in his 30s, while the other suspect is a Malaysian, known only as Raj and believed to be the mastermind.

Good that they caught them at least 2 of them so far. Greed, its a road to nowhere.

a reply to: musicismagic

MALAYSIAN police have arrested a bank officer and her husband over allegations they stole more than $30,000 from the accounts of four passengers aboard missing flight MH370, an official said.

The couple have been held in police custody since Thursday on suspicion of withdrawing 110,643 ringgit (AU$37,464) from the accounts of two Malaysian and two Chinese MH370 victims, said Zainuddin Ahmad, a district police chief in Kuala Lumpur.

LOW ACT: Money withdrawn from accounts belonging to MH370 passengers

MYSTERY CONTINUES: Where on earth is MH370?

Police are also looking for another suspect, a Pakistani man, who is believed to have received part of the money in his account through an online transfer, he added.

“We believe he is still in the country. But as to the full particulars of the case — it’s all still under investigation,” Zainuddin told AFP.

Zainuddin declined to name the bank, where the woman in custody reportedly worked at for the last 10 years.

But The Star Daily reported that the four bank accounts were with HSBC and quoted HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd saying in a statement that the matter was referred by the bank to the police, declining further comment.

HSBC officials could not immediately be reached.

The Mirror reports the 33-year-old HSBC employee and her husband were held after a manager noticed suspicious activity at a Kuala Lumpur branch.

Sources say AU$37,464 held by the Malaysia Airlines passengers was moved into an account with the name Ali Faran on July 14 then withdrawn at a local branch.

The bank carried out an internal inquiry before going to police on August 2.

A source said: “Faran is believed to be a foreigner because a passport was used to open an account.

“More individuals are believed to be involved and we are trying to identify them.”

It is believed the bank worker approved the victim’s ATM card renewal application and gave Mr Faran a new card to make withdrawals.

The source added it was “possible” that other MH370 passengers had been affected.

Assistant Commissioner Izany Abdul Ghany from Kuala Lumpur police said they were investigating all angles, including the possibility that it was an insider job.

“We are getting CCTV footage from the bank to identify the suspects involved,” the Mirror reported him as saying.

Unauthorised access to private bank accounts is punishable by prison sentences of up to 10 years in Malaysia.

The Malaysia Airlines plane lost contact en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 people aboard and mysteriously disappeared.

The Boeing 777 is believed to have veered off course and have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean but no sign of wreckage has been found thus far.

case solved.

thanks guys