SINGAPORE: A former United Overseas Bank (UOB) employee was convicted on Tuesday (Oct 14) of multiple charges over disclosing the information of more than 1,000 customers to a scammer.
Cao Wenqing, a 30-year-old Singapore permanent resident and Chinese national, was convicted of 14 charges under the Computer Misuse Act and 13 charges under the Banking Act.
She had contested the charges, saying she had been deceived by people claiming to be from the Shanghai police.
However, District Judge James Elisha Lee on Tuesday said Cao had tertiary education qualifications and was given training that made her fully aware of the highly confidential and sensitive nature of customer information, as well as the restrictions on their disclosure.
She also knew it was against the bank’s policy for her to extract customer information.
Judge Lee said it was “unreasonable” in his view for Cao not to have taken any steps to verify the identities of the two people who contacted her.
She could have easily done this by calling the Shanghai police herself, which she subsequently did, after reading an article on a similar scam, said the judge.
