26YO Former UOB Employee Charged for Giving 1,166 Customers’ Details to Scammers

Have you ever wondered who had given your number to the countless loan sharks who repeatedly ask whether you need a loan?

Well, continue to wonder, because it’s still unknown how our phone numbers float around the illegal database.

However, 1,166 customers might soon know how their numbers were disclosed to scammers.

26YO Former UOB Employee Charged for Giving 1,166 Customers’ Details to Scammers

Yesterday (20 August), a former UOB employee was charged for illegally accessing the bank’s electronic customer database, and it’s not to check out the contact number of a cute customer: it was leaked to  scammers.

A total of 1,166 customers’ personal details were leaked. All are China nationals.

The details include their names, identification, mobile numbers, nationalities and bank account numbers.

The employee in question, Cao Wenqing, had claimed that she’s a victim of an impersonation scam, and had given the details to someone representing the “Shanghai police”.

The 26YO PR from China had sent these details via WhatsApp to someone known as “Lu”.

Cao had allegedly used her work-issued laptop to access the information of over 3,300 customers in April this year.

Fired from Bank

It’s unknown how the bank uncovered her actions, and back in May, UOB said they had suspended her. Since then, she’s been fired from the bank.

They have contacted all the affected customers, saying, “Upon detection, we stepped up our monitoring of affected accounts and we were in regular contact with customers to ensure their accounts remained secure. Our multi-layer security measures kept the affected customers’ accounts safe from the people behind this scam.”

Cao said she would be pleading guilty, and will return to court on 10 September 2021.

To know more about scams, watch these videos to the end:

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Featured Image: Saranya Phu akat/ Shutterstock.com