Maid Steals Employer’s Credit Card Info To Repay Debts, Turns Herself In 3 Days Later

Maid uses employer’s credit card to pay her debt

Every employer of a domestic helper wants to find a suitable worker and keep them for a long period of time. However, as maids are increasingly becoming an integral part of many Vietnamese households, their integrity is an uppermost issue in employers’ minds.

3 months into helping out at her Hanoi employer’s home, a 34-year-old maid did the unthinkable.

She secretly gathered details of her employer’s credit card information, bank account number, and social security number. After successfully signing into her boss’ bank account, she transferred VND21,000,000 (~USD912.71) to her debtor.

She stole her employer’s credit card information

Image adapted from: Cong An

In March 2021, 34-year-old Cao Thi Minh Phuong started working in a household in Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, as a domestic worker.

Deep in debt at the moment, Phuong came up with the idea of robbing valuables from her boss.

During her stay in the family, she tried to sign into a credit card assigned to her employer by collecting essential information such as the social security number, bank account number, birth dates, and PINs.

The helper stole her employer’s credit card information
Image credit: Pexels/Mikhail Nilov

There was a high chance that she also remembered her employer’s smartphone passcode, if there was any, so that she could obtain the one-time password sent via SMS when making any transactions with the account.

On 11th June, Phuong accessed her boss’ credit account and transferred VND21,000,000 (~USD912.71) into her debtor’s bank account.

Employer is alerted and contacts police about the shady transfer

Image credit: Pexels/Mikhail Nilov

Surprisingly, someone who exerted that much effort in remembering her employer’s credit account information couldn’t have thought that every card transaction results in alerts via SMS or emails.

After receiving alerts from her card issuer about a transfer that she didn’t initiate, Phuong’s employer contacted the police immediately.

Knowing that she couldn’t get away with her crime, Phuong went to the police station and turned herself in on 14th June.

Trust, but verify

When we welcome a new member into our home, we should keep the communication line open and have faith in their goodwill.

Though we trust, we still need to verify.

If you think that a case of dishonest misappropriation of assets occurs in your living environment, don’t jump the gun to condemn anyone but conduct a thorough investigation first.

On top of that, make sure you have a clear conversation with your helper at the job interview and sort out any complexities before employing their service.

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Cover image adapted from: Cong An and Pexels/Mikhail Nilov

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