The Department for Combating Economic Crimes under the General Prosecutor's Office revealed the theft of funds from a private individual's deposit at one of the commercial banks in Tashkent.

How it happened

A pre-investigation check was conducted by the department's office in Sergeli District.

Based on the check materials, responsible bank employees prepared a forged statement and other documents on behalf of the depositor, after which they withdrew funds from the account.

The client deposited $500 thousand, of which $300 thousand was embezzled.

Criminal case opened

The case was opened under two articles of the Criminal Code:

  • Article 167 — theft by embezzlement or misappropriation;
  • Article 228 — manufacturing, forging documents, stamps, seals, blanks, and their distribution or use.

Investigative actions are continuing, and circumstances are being established.

How this case differs from ordinary fraud

Key feature: the scheme was implemented from within the organization. Standard safety measures commonly advised to customers would not have helped here — not sharing codes, not clicking links, not installing remote access software.

The depositor did not take any actions that could lead to loss of funds. The documents were prepared by employees who had official access to their account.

This is why internal controls in banks are highlighted as a separate regulatory area, and employee operations are subject to mandatory audit.

What a depositor can do

While a client cannot completely eliminate such risk, it can be reduced:

  • enable SMS notifications for all account operations, including deposits;
  • periodically request statements — since 2025, the regulator has proposed establishing the right for depositors to receive them free of charge once a month;
  • check balance through the app without waiting for the deposit term to end;
  • for large sums, distribute funds among several organizations.

The last point is doubly useful: it also ensures full coverage by the guarantee system, which has a maximum limit of 200 million soums per person in one bank.

Not an isolated case

A week earlier, the department reported the arrest of a leading specialist from the regional office of another commercial bank in Andijan. He promised a client for 5.5 million soums to lift a travel ban imposed due to loan debt.

In parallel, banks reported on the performance of anti-fraud systems: over six months, more than 18 million fraudulent operations worth over 461 billion soums were prevented.

The contrast is telling: technical systems successfully counter external attacks, while employee misconduct requires different control mechanisms.

When choosing where to place large savings, consider not only deposit rates, but also the organization's reputation and the availability of tools for independent account monitoring.

This material is for informational purposes.