Former FNB consultant jailed for stealing R245K from elderly client’s account

THE Ggeberha Regional Court has handed down a five-year prison sentence to Lusanda Gloria Qose, a former sales and service consultant at First National Bank (FNB), for her involvement in a sophisticated fraud scheme that exploited a vulnerable senior citizen’s banking profile.

- STAFF REPORTER

The court's ruling comes in the aftermath of Qose’s conviction for fraud, cyber fraud, and the unlawful use of access credentials, a crime which threatened the integrity of the financial sector and allowed her to siphon off a staggering R245000 over a period of three months.

Qose, 35, was found to have abused her position at the Pier 14 branch, unlawfully accessing internal bank systems between January 22 and April 24, last year.

With her employee credentials, she manipulated account details belonging to 68-year-old complainant Mlungwana Maranti, changing his registered cellphone number to divert his onetime-pin (OTP) authorisations to herself without his knowledge.

She was able to create a second bank card linked to Maranti’s accounts, subsequently executing unauthorised fund transfers from his Money Maximiser account to his Encore account and conducting multiple ATM withdrawals.