Fraudster cheats blind man at Pindora bank

Islamabad
Completely deprived of eyesight, Ejaz Hussain, 51, never thought of being cheated by anyone gifted with the power of seeing (eyes). Therefore, when he lost Rs50,000 to a fraudster, he did not believe at first, but had to.
Ejaz, who is single, went to the National Bank of Pakistan, Pindora Branch, to draw the amount, which for a person of his status, was massive. He entered the bank. An unidentified person approached him to assist him in drawing the cash. Ejaz works in the nearby Government Qandeel Institute for the Blind.
When he asked the person, who was he, the fraudster introduced himself as the NBP’s staffer. On this, Ejaz got satisfied, who sat on the sofa, gave him the token after the cheque was handed over to the cashier.
“I was satisfied that the banker will obtain the cash from the cashier and then give it to me. But to my shock, I kept waiting and the man did not return to me with cash,” recalls Ejaz.
Ejaz got extremely concerned and somehow reached the cashier and asked him about the amount, who said he had given it to the person, who had accompanied him.
The fraudster was either already in the bank, waiting for a suitable ‘prey’, or followed Ejaz, as he entered the bank. The blind man looted in October last and till today, he could not get even clue of the looter. Ejaz believed that the fraudster could have been traced by now, had the bank provided clips of the hidden camera, installed in the bank building.
“Such persons always accompany a helper while coming to our bank for cash withdrawal or any other job. Ejaz sb made a big mistake by relying on a stranger. He should have instead straight away come to me for cash withdrawal,” said the bank manager Hamid Aziz while talking to The News.
It was nice to see people going to the manager without any problem for queries or signatures etc. “I am always available to the valued customers and this is my job,” he remarked while giving guidelines to four freshly graduated students, who apparently wanted to do a short course.
Asked about taking help from the camera, the manager believed switch of the device, it appeared might have been pushed off accidentally by the office boy that was why, it could not record images on that particular day. He felt sorry but said that the department could not compensate Ejaz, who could have easily avoided the shameful act by bringing along someone, as such persons do. “Or he should have come to me, I would have got the amount withdrawn for him without any problem,” he said.