Egyptian Accused of Stealing 3.5 Million Reward Points to Buy Pizza

Over the course of our lives in Egypt, we come across some of the craftiest swindlers and rip-off artists in the world. Admittedly, many of us have also dabbled a little in dishonest business dealings... akl 3eish wi beta3 but we're certainly not bad enough to be included in the Panama Papers. Now that's some sophisticated high-class robbery. Nothing, though, quite compares to what one Egyptian man has done in Dubai.

According to Gulf News, a 25-year-old former employee of Etisalat has been accused by a Dubai court of stealing 3.5 million reward points worth more than 140,000 EGP from Etisalat clients. He didn't launder the money into a Swiss bank account or to an offshore tax haven. He didn't buy a Mercedes or book a holiday to the Caribbean. He used them to buy pizza, fried chicken, and cinema tickets.

The Egyptian expat allegedly abused his position at Etisalat to hack into clients' accounts to steal their rewards points, which he would then convert to coupons on pizza as well as chain restaurants, cinemas, and online shopping.

He wasn't exactly subtle with his little racket, expecting no one to notice whatsoever that their rewards points were just being depleted exponentially for no reason. An Emirati did take notice that his points were being converted to coupons for buying things off Souq.com. He notified Etisalat who then launched an inquiry into the suspicious activity, which caught out the Egyptian employee.

Appearing in court, the suspect has denied the accusations by claiming that someone else used his account to commit the acts of theft, as he and his colleagues regularly exchanged their login details.

The trial is still currently ongoing.