I cant help but be amused at how dumb some criminals are. Premeditated crimes that are not well thought out would, more often than not, land someone in jail. But leaving breadcrumbs that reveal their own identity is taking dumbness to a whole new level.

In Oct 2019, 25-year-old Ms N, a teacher at a private school, thought that she had concocted a genius plan to get quick bucks. With the help of a corrupt bank employee, she secretly registered for online banking to her mom’s account. So, she saw this big numbers on the screen, the digits were twerking in her face, calling her name. She imagined all the things that she had been drooling over could now be within her reach. There was no unseeing what she saw. She must get her hands on the money.

Well, unless she had a fake ID and with it opened up a bank account using a fake name, get ATM card for the fake ID bank account and went to the ATM wearing disguise or a big hat, then there was actually no way she could steal the money from her mom’s account and not get caught. But, the temptation seemed to be overwhelming for her, and she went on to make 15 transactions to her cousin’s account. Genius!

Can a teacher be that dumb? Here is what I think. I think that the $67k+ that she stole are just a small fraction of her mom’s money in the account and she knew that and probably was confident that the mom would not even notice them missing. It was only when the mom went to the bank, five months and 15 online transfers later, that the mom was told by the bank staff about the money transfers. Obviously, the bank could easily track who the recipient account belongs to. As to why there was no care in covering her tracks, I think she probably just thought even if the mom found out, it was just going to be a family’s internal affair. The mom would just scold her and that was it. Well, she thought wrong.

A police report had been made two days after the mom’s bank trip. The daughter and her cousin were then both arrested. It was a no brainer for the police. The press feasted on the story and added 2+ more k to the headline saying “Woman Lands in Jail for Stealing BND$70k from Mother”. The first thing on my mind when I saw the headline was.. Wow! some money the mom got there. Then, the second thing on my mind was.. Can’t the mom just let it slide?? Yea, its a big amount, but isn’t blood thicker than your wallet??

It was alleged that the mom did recoil later and wanted to just forget about everything but by then the police were not having any of it. Besides, it was not like the daughter just took some cash from the mom’s purse. There is identity theft involved, when she pretended to be her mom, applied for the online banking and made the online transfers. Then there is also money laundering, when she transferred the stolen money to her cousin’s account making them looked like the cousin’s legitimate savings, withdrew the money and spent them on personal things, shoes, handbags, clothes, watches, video games, iPhones, trips to Indonesia, and what not.

On 30 April 2020, the daughter was sentenced to two years and eight months jail while the cousin got eight months. Two months later, following an appeal from the public prosecutor, her sentence was increased to three years and four months. Unless the mom is planning to disown her, after serving the jail term, unemployed and ex-convict Miss N would still go home as her daughter. Nobody wins.