Kota Kinabalu: A 23-year-old jobless man who used his female friend’s ATM card to check into a hotel stay without her knowledge, was jailed three years.
Sessions Court Judge Monica Linsua handed down the sentence to Mohammad Harith Ihsan after he pleaded guilty to the charge. Mohammad had made a RM200 transaction using the 34-year-old woman’s payment instrument or bank account without lawful authority at 5.41pm on Feb 25 this year.
The offence under Section 424C(2) of the Penal Code carries a jail term of between three and 10 years, or a fine of between RM10,000 and RM150,000, or both upon conviction.
The court ordered Mohammad to serve his sentence from the date of his arrest.
In mitigation, unrepresented Mohammad pleaded for leniency.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Fazriel Fardiansyah Abdul Kadir, however, urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence, saying the offence involved the deliberate and dishonest misuse of the complainant’s ATM card without her knowledge or consent.
“The accused knowingly used property belonging to another person for his own benefit, demonstrating a clear intention to deprive the complainant of control over her funds,” he said.
Fazriel said the offence was a breach of trust and security as unauthorised use of an ATM card could undermine public confidence in electronic banking and cashless payment systems.
He said the act was not committed impulsively, as Mohammad had possession of the ATM card and made a conscious decision to use it without permission.
The court heard that on Feb 25, the complainant received an SMS notification from Alliance Bank regarding a RM200 deduction from her account for a hotel room rental in Kota Kinabalu.
The complainant suspected Mohammad had used her ATM card as she had handed him her car for bodykit installation and had accidentally left her wallet containing the card inside the vehicle.
She later lodged a police report, and investigations found that Mohammad had used the ATM card to make the hotel payment without her consent or knowledge.
