Appeals court upholds credit card fraudster’s jail sentence

The High Criminal Appeals Court has upheld the five-year jail sentence handed down to an Asian convicted of credit card fraud and forgery. The defendant is said to have purchased four mobile phones worth BD520 using a forged credit card. And he landed in the police net after the competent authorities were notified about the incident, according to prosecutors.

However, the Asian man told prosecutors that the cards were given to him by a friend who advised him against carrying cash while travelling abroad. “I work as a manager at a local construction company. Before I came to Bahrain to visit some friends, I had 65,000 Indian rupees (BD333) and I tried to exchange them into Bahraini dinars.

“However, an exchange shop owner recommended I exchange the cash with three credit cards because Bahrain doesn’t allow foreigners to carry more than BD500 when they enter the country through the airport,” the defendant told prosecutors. When asked about why he decided to use the cards to purchase mobile phones, the defendant revealed: “I wanted to gift them to family members. I didn’t know that I used forged cards to purchase them.”