Bank Employee Accused of Stealing Over 158,000 Shekels From Elderly Israelis

A bank employee in northern Israel has been charged with systematically defrauding elderly clients and stealing approximately 158,000 shekels from their accounts. The Haifa District Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against a resident of Daliyat al-Karmel, who previously worked at a Haifa branch of Bank Leumi. The alleged scheme began in 2022, after she started working at the bank in November 2019. Investigators believe she created unauthorized cash withdrawal cards in clients' names, forged their signatures on application documents, and then used the cards to withdraw funds from ATMs. One 75-year-old client was particularly targeted, losing 143,000 shekels after the employee opened four debit cards in her name and made 43 withdrawals over six months. To conceal the theft, the employee allegedly moved funds between the victim's deposit and current accounts, forging her signature for these transactions as well. The indictment also details the theft of 4,000 shekels from the account of a deceased client, two weeks after his death, using a card issued in his name. The fraud was uncovered following customer complaints about missing funds, leading the bank to report the issue to the police. The Carmel District's anti-crime unit investigated the case. The employee was dismissed from her job, and the bank has reportedly compensated all affected clients for their losses. This incident follows a previous report of a separate ATM fraud scheme in Israel that impacted over 40 people.